Operations Temptations Frustrations
by slexieotpforever
Summary: Starting a job as a doctor is not as amazing as it may seem. Sure, you have a title that people respect you for, and you have the ability to save people's lives. But all that comes with a price. One that Seattle Grace's new interns are about to discover.
1. A Hard Day's Night

**_Disclaimer:_** _I don't own Grey's Anatomy in any shape or form. But I do own my OC._

 ** _Title:_** Operations. Temptations. Frustrations.

 _ **Author:**_ slexieotpforever

 ** _Summary:_** Starting a job as a doctor is not as amazing as it may seem. Sure, you have a title that people respect you for, and you have the ability to save people's lives. But all that comes with a price. One that Seattle Grace's new interns are about to discover.

 _ **A/N:** Okay, so, I thought I'd try my hand at writing another Grey's Anatomy fanfiction. It's definitely going to be a lot different from the one I already began. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy! _

_This will start in 1x01 'A Hard Day's Night', at the very beginning of the show._

 **Operations. Temptations. Frustrations.**

 **Chapter One**

 **A Hard Day's Night**

 _The game - they say a person either has what it takes to play, or they don't. My mother was... one of the greats. Me, on the other hand - I'm... kind of screwed._

She yawned as her blue eyes fluttered open, her brows furrowing in confusion for a second as she looked around the still somewhat unfamiliar room, before her eyes widened as they glanced at the clock on her nightstand. She was late. On her first day of work. _Well, this is just brilliant_ , she thought to herself, throwing the covers off herself before getting out of bed, shivering as the cold morning air hit her bare legs. She then proceeded to head out of her room while running a hand through her long, dark brown hair, planning to make herself and her sister, who she was sure was still asleep as she had quite a late night the night before, a quick breakfast. However, she had to be alert earlier than she would like to as her sister nearly barreled into her in the stairs.

"Mer?" she asked in confusion, turning around to stare after her sister as the blonde continued to run up the stairs, her naked body wrapped only in a blanket.

"Sorry!" Meredith apologized hastily, already rounding the corner and running into the bathroom. Annabelle's brows furrowed in confusion as she stared after her sister for a few more seconds, before she decided to proceed and head downstairs.

"Oh," she stopped in her tracks once she reached the bottom, her eyes widening as she saw a very handsome man with amazing black hair in her living room, his bare chest on display as he began to button up his shirt.

"Oh," the man repeated, his eyes widening the tiniest bit as he noticed her in the stairwell.

"So you're the one who helped my sister make all that noise last night," Annabelle stated as she stepped down the last step, finally standing in front of the man who seemed to be a few years older than her and Meredith, still only in her pajamas, which consisted of gray shorts and tank top with a light pink outline.

"Yeah, I guess I am," he chuckled a bit nervously, before seeming to think 'screw it' and holding out his hand. "I'm Derek,"

"Annabelle," the young woman smiled, shaking his hand. "And you know, as much as I enjoy the view, I have to kick you out. We're late,"

"Yeah, so I've heard," Derek chuckled, before offering her a smile. "You never saw me,"

"I never saw you," Annabelle repeated with a smile of her own, before proceeding to head into the kitchen as Derek made his way out the door, "Nice one," she said to her sister only a few minutes later as Meredith made her way into the kitchen, now wrapped in a towel as the sunlight reflected in the water on her skin.

"Shut up,"

* * *

"Each of you comes in here today hopeful. Wanting in on the game," the chief of Seattle Grace Hospital spoke to the fresh new interns around him as Annabelle and Meredith snuck inside, hoping that no one will notice their tardiness. In the ten minutes they had to get dressed, Annabelle quickly threw on a military green, short-sleeved, loose V-neck, her favorite dark skinny jeans, and light brown sandals. Not having the time for anything nice, she also simply threw her hair up in a messy bun, "A month ago, you were in med school, being taught by doctors. Today, _you_ are the doctors," the chief said, before opening the door to an O.R., the lights turning on as the interns looked around in amazement, "The seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of your life. You will be pushed to the breaking point. Look around you. Say hello to your competition. Eight of you will switch to an easier specialty. Five of you will crack under the pressure, two of you will be asked to leave. This is your starting line. This is your arena. How well you play... that's up to you," he said as Annabelle looked at the people around her.

 _Like I said... I'm screwed._

* * *

"Okay, Martin, Robinson, Bond, Hawkins!" a resident called out in the locker room, the interns whose names were called quickly running after him. Annabelle glanced at her sister as she hung her stethoscope around her neck, her slightly worried look being returned.

"Only seven women out of twenty-one," Annabelle said, looking at the closest woman to her, who happened to be an Asian woman around her and Meredith's age with long, curly dark hair.

"Yeah. I hear one of them's a model," the woman replied, putting the last of her things in her locker as Annabelle closed hers. "Seriously, that's gonna help with the respect thing?"

"You're Cristina, right?" Meredith asked as she stood up from where she was sitting on one of the benches.

"Patton, Monroe..." a resident called out again as Cristina put on her lab coat.

"Which resident are you assigned to?" she asked, looking at the sisters. "I got Bailey,"

"The Nazi? Me, too," Annabelle said, her voice betraying her worry.

"Same here," Meredith said.

"You got the Nazi? So did I," a man who seemed to be younger than the other interns and still looked more like a boy than a man spoke up from near his locker, which was only a few lockers away from Meredith, Annabelle and Cristina, "At least we'll be tortured together, right?" he said, his voice kind enough for Annabelle to give him a small, genuine smile, "I'm George. O'Malley. Uh, we met at the, uh... the mixer, you had on a black dress, uh, with a slit up the side, strappy sandals, and..." he trailed off as he noticed the three women staring at him, Meredith offering him a small smile as he stared at her while recalling what she wore a few nights before, "Now, you think I'm gay. Uh, no, I'm not gay. It's, uh, it's just that, uh... you know, you were very, I mean, you were very unforgettable," he continued as Cristina walked away, Annabelle trying very hard not to laugh as she viewed the interaction between George and her sister.

"O'Malley, Yang, Grey, Stevens, other Grey," a resident called out again, and the five interns headed to the exit.

"Bailey?" Cristina asked the resident as the other four followed her.

"End of the hall,"

"That's the Nazi?" Cristina asked in disbelief, and everyone copied her face expression as they stared at the short, African-American woman at the end of the hall.

"I thought the Nazi would be a guy," George commented.

"I thought the Nazi would be... a Nazi," Annabelle said, still staring at the resident in front of them.

"Maybe it's professional jealousy," a pretty blonde intern with brown eyes and an amazing figure said, quickening her pace to walk in front of the others. "Maybe she's brilliant and they call her the Nazi because they're jealous. Maybe she's nice,"

"Let me guess - you're the model," Cristina said dryly, and the blonde turned around to shoot her a glare before stopping in front of their residents.

"Hi. I'm Isobel Stevens but everyone calls me 'Izzie'," she smiled, holding out her hand for Dr. Bailey to shake, but the woman simply stared at it before looking up.

"I have five rules, memorize them. Rule number one - don't bother sucking up. I already hate you, that's not gonna change," she said, and Izzie's smile faltered, "Trauma protocol, phone list, pagers - nurses will page you. You will answer every page at a run - a run - that's rule number two!" Dr. Bailey continued as the interns quickly grabbed their pagers from the main desk and followed her, "Your first shift starts now and lasts 48 hours,"

 **Hour 1**

"You're interns, grunts, nobodies, bottom of the surgical food chain. You run labs, write orders, work every second night until you drop, and don't complain! On-call rooms," she spoke, opening the door to a small room with a bunk bed and a small table, "Attendings hog them. Sleep where you can, when you can, which brings me to rule number three. If I'm sleeping, don't wake me, unless your patient is actually dying. Rule number four - the dying patient better not be dead when I get there. Not only will you have killed someone, you would have woke me for no good reason. We clear?" she asked, and the interns all nodded a bit fearfully, except for Annabelle, who raised her hand. "Yes?"

"That was... four rules. You said five," she pointed out, her voice wavering a bit at the stare the resident was holding on her, just as Dr. Bailey's pager beeped.

"Rule number five - when I move, you move," she said, before pushing past them and running down the hallway, the five doctors all quickly following her. "Get out of my way!"

* * *

"What do we got?" Dr. Bailey asked the paramedics as the helicopter - air ambulance - landed on the roof of the hospital, Annabelle standing closest to the resident as Cristina and Izzie held the gurney as the ready.

"Katie Bryce, 15-year-old female, new onset seizures, intermittent for the past week," one of the paramedics spoke as they got the blonde teenager out of the helicopter, her body shaking and her eyes rolling to the back of her head as she experienced a seizure, an oxygen mask on her face, "I.V. lost en route, started grand mal seizing as we descended," he finished, and the doctors quickly got Katie inside and into a room.

"Alright, get her on her side," Dr. Bailey ordered, and the interns proceeded to do just that, "Izzie, 10 milligrams diazepam I.M.," she ordered, and Izzie looked at her nervously, "No, no, the white lead is on the right!" she scolded Meredith, "Righty, whity - smoke over fire. A large-bore I.V., don't let the blood hemolyze, let's go!" she spoke, and Annabelle quickly grabbed the syringe Izzie handed her, sticking it into Katie's side and silently breathing out a sigh of relief as she seizure subsided.

"What do we have, a wet fish on dry land?" came a voice from the door, and Annabelle turned her head, only to see a tall, African-American man in an attending's uniform walking in.

"Absolutely, Dr. Burke," Dr. Bailey said.

"Dr. Bailey, let's shotgun her,"

"That mean every test in the book - C.T., CBC, chem-7, tox screen. Cristina, you're on labs, George, patient work-ups. Meredith, Annabelle, get Katie for a C.T. She's your responsibility now," Dr. Bailey said, and Annabelle and Meredith looked at her, their eyes wide.

"Wait, what about me?" Izzie asked.

"Y... Honey, you get to do rectal exams,"

* * *

"You're lost," Katie, Meredith and Annabelle's patient, stated matter-of-factly as the elevator doors opened, and the two doctors shot her annoyed looks.

"We're not lost," Annabelle said.

"How are you feeling?" Meredith asked as she and her sister walked out of the elevator, the brunette pulling and the blonde pushing on the gurney which held Katie.

"How do you think I'm feeling?" Katie asked, annoyed. "I'm missing my pageant,"

"You're missing your pageant?" Annabelle repeated, her voice monotone.

"The Spokane Teen Miss," Kate elaborated as the doctors made a right turn around the corner, "I was in the top ten after the first two rounds. This is my year. I could have won," she said, and Meredith and Annabelle shared a glance before sharing a nod and making a U-turn, heading in the opposite direction, "Hello," Katie spoke up again, annoyed, sitting up, "You're so lost. What are you, like, new?" she asked, and Annabelle and Meredith simply shared annoyed glances, "I twisted my ankle in talent rehearsal. I do rhythmic gymnastics, which is, like, really cool. Nobody else does it. And I tripped over my ribbon and I didn't get stuck with someone this clueless. And that was, like, a nurse," she sat up again, exaggeratedly whispering the last word, and Annabelle gritted her teeth in annoyance.

 **Hour 7**

"You know Meredith and Annabelle are inbred?" Cristina spoke up as she and the other interns sat at their lunch table in the cafeteria.

"Like it's uncommon around here to be a doctors' parents-"

"No, royally inbred - their mother is Ellis Grey," Cristina cut George off.

"Shut up, the Ellis Grey?" Izzie spoke up, her eyes wide as she stared at Cristina in bewilderment.

"Yeah,"

"Who's Ellis Grey?" George asked, and his colleagues all looked at him as Izzie laughed.

"Ell... The Grey Method? Where'd you go to med school - Mexico?" Cristina asked in disbelief.

"She was one of the first big chick surgeons, she practically invented the-"

"She's a living legend. Yeah, she won the Harper Avery, twice," Cristina cut Izzie off.

"So I didn't know _one thing_ ," George said, a bit annoyed.

"Talk about parental pressure," Izzie shook her head, not being able to imagine how hard childhood must have been for the two sisters.

"God, I would kill to have Ellis Grey as a mother," Cristina said, "I'd kill to _be_ Ellis Grey. All I need is one good case," she continued, before stopping as George mumbled something with his mouth full, and they all turned their heads, only to see Annabelle and Meredith heading towards their table with their lunch in their hands.

"Katie Bryce is a pain in the ass," were the first words out of Annabelle's mouth as she sunk into her seat, her hand reaching up to touch her forehead as she sighed in annoyance, still remembering the teenager's obnoxious voice.

"She is," Meredith agreed as she sat down, before leaning back in her seat and crossing her arms over her chest, "If I hadn't taken the hippocratic oath, I'd Kevorkian her with my bare hands," she said, and all the interns, even Annabelle, turned to look at her with wide eyes. "What?"

"Good afternoon, interns," came a bit too cheerful voice from behind the sisters, and they turned around, only to see Dr. Burke walking up to them, "It's posted, but... I thought I'd share the good news personally. As you know, the honor of performing the first surgery is reserved for the intern that shows the most promise. As I'm running the O.R. today, I get to make that choice," he said, and the young doctors all looked at him in anticipation, "George O'Malley," he finally said, placing his hand on the awkward young man's shoulder.

"Me?"

"You'll scrub in for an appendectomy this afternoon. Congratulations. Enjoy it," Dr. Burke said, before walking away from the table as all the other interns stared at their colleague.

"Did he say me?" George asked after a few seconds of silence, his voice full of disbelief.

"He did," Annabelle nodded, not believing it herself.

* * *

"Katie, honey," Annabelle turned around as she heard the female voice, only to see a couple entering their patient's room. The female was a pretty blonde woman around her early 40's who aged gracefully, dressed in an elegant skirt and jacket, while the male was a tall man with dark but already grayish hair. "Mom and dad are here,"

"They gave her a sedative for the C.T. scan, so she's a little groggy," Annabelle informed the parents, and they nodded as the mother stroked Katie's head.

"Will she be alright?" she asked.

"Our doctor at home said that she might need an operation, is... is that true?" Katie's father asked.

"What kind of operation?"

"She's, um... well..." Meredith trailed off, her eyes on Katie, before looking up at the parents again, "You know what, I-we're not the doctors. Uh, we'r-we're doctors, but we're not Katie's doctors so... we'll go get him for you," she said, before grabbing her sister's hand and dragging her out of the room, and Annabelle gave a silent sigh of relief. She wasn't sure about Meredith, but she was 100% sure that _she_ was not ready for parents at this moment. Katie was enough.

The two doctors headed down the hall while looking around, hoping to catch the sight of either Dr. Burke or Dr. Bailey. It turned out that luck was on their side, because as they opened the door to walk into the main corridor, they bumped into the short woman.

"What?" she demanded, seeing the sisters stare at her.

"Katie's parents have questions," Annabelle explained. "Do you talk to them or do we ask Dr. Burke?"

"Uh, no, Burke's off the case," Dr. Bailey answered, "Katie belongs to the new attending now, Dr. Shepherd, he's over there," she pointed in the right direction before walking away, and the sisters nodded, following her finger, only to freeze as they saw a very handsome man with amazing black hair. The same man who was in their house that very morning. Annabelle couldn't help but have the corners of her mouth turn upwards as she withheld a chuckle of amusement, while her sister quickly turned around and headed in the opposite direction as soon as Derek looked up and caught their gazes.

"Annabelle," he nodded at her, quickly walking past her as he made to follow Meredith.

"Derek," Annabelle responded, chuckling as she stared after him and her sister, before shaking her head. _Oh, this is going to be interesting._

* * *

"He's gonna faint, he's a fainter," a male intern commented as he and all the other interns sat in the gallery of the O.R. that was being prepped for George's surgery, everyone's eyes on the intern down below.

"No, code brown, right in his pants," another intern chuckled.

"He's all about the flop sweat, he's gonna sweat himself unsterile,"

"10 bucks says he messes up the McBurney," another male intern commented.

"$15 says he cries," Cristina added, sitting down.

"I'll put $20 on a total meltdown," one of the interns from before said.

"$50 says he pulls the whole thing off," Annabelle finally said, and everyone except for Meredith turned to look at her in disbelief. "That's one of us down there. The first one of us,"

"She's right," Meredith added. "Where's your loyalty?"

"$75 says he can't even I.D. the appendix," Cristina continued after a few seconds, and Annabelle closed her eyes as she sighed quietly in annoyance.

"I'll take that action," Izzie said, just as Dr. Burke, now all scrubbed in, walked into the O.R.

"Here it comes," Annabelle said, leaning forward in her seat. Everyone quietened down, and only a few seconds later everyone except for the two sisters cheered and applauded mockingly when George held his hand out and one of the scrub nurses handed him a scalpel. However, they all silenced themselves once Dr. Burke glared up at them and gave them a sign to shut up.

"That Burke is trouble," Cristina commented, making Izzie laugh.

"Damn, he got the peritoneum open, I'm out," one of the interns commented as the other cheered only a minute after George cut into the patient.

"Told you - he's gonna pull it off," Annabelle said, grinning as she looked down at George and watched his first surgery. Only a minute later, another round of cheers took place as he successfully took out the appendix. Annabelle grinned as Meredith laughed, both watching the surgery with smiles on their faces. They then watched as George inverted the stump into the cecum and started to pull on the purse strings. However, he must have pulled too hard as the strings broke, "Oh, no," Annabelle whispered to herself as she watched the person start to bleed, and saw George freeze.

"He's choking," Cristina commented as they all watched anxiously while the patient's B.P. started to drop.

"Come on, George," Meredith said to herself, but Dr. Burke had to push George out of the way only a few seconds later as the patient went into too severe a distress.

"He's 007," one of the interns said as George looked up at the gallery, obviously embarrassed and disappointed in himself.

"007, yep,"

"A total 007,"

"What's '007' mean?" Izzie asked, turning her head to look at Annabelle.

"Licensed to kill," she responded in a quiet voice, staring down at George with pity.

* * *

 **Hour 19**

"007," George repeated for what seemed to be the hundredth time as he sat in a wheelchair in one of the corridors in the basement floor of the hospital. Cristina, Izzie, Meredith and Annabelle were also there, all sitting on some of the beds by the wall. The window in front of which Izzie, Meredith and Annabelle sat made the interns realize how tiring their jobs really is, seeing as their shift started in the early morning and it was now late and dark outside, and their shift wasn't even halfway over yet. "They're calling me '007', aren't they?"

"No one's calling you 007," Meredith, Izzie and Annabelle all said in unison, annoyance and exhaustion clear in their voices as the former model tried to stretch her muscles.

"I was on the elevator and Murphy whispered, '007'," George continued.

"Oh, how many times do we have to go through this, George?" Cristina asked in annoyance as she got off the bed she was lying on, "Five? Ten? Give me a number or else I'm gonna hit you,"

"Murphy whispered, '007', and everyone laughed," George called after her as she walked towards the vending machine.

"He wasn't talking about you," Izzie said.

"Are you sure?" George asked, his voice now quiet and a bit vulnerable even, Annabelle noticed.

"Would we lie to you?" she asked.

"Yes," he stated in an obvious voice, and Annabelle was silent for a second before nodding.

"Yeah, you're probably right," she said, and George looked at her with wide eyes as she and Izzie chuckled.

"007 is a state of mind!" Cristina called from her place at the vending machine.

"Says the girl who finished first in her class at Stanford," George retorted, before there were two beeping sounds. The girls all checked their pagers, and Annabelle groaned as she looked at hers.

"Damn it, it's 911 for Katie Bryce," she said as she looked at her sisters, whose eyes widened as she also looked at her pager, before putting it away and quickly jumping off the bed.

"We got to go," was all she said before running off, and Annabelle was quick to follow her.

They ran up the stairs as fast as they could, before running through the door and down the main hallway.

"Excuse me!" Meredith called as she and Annabelle ran past multiple doctors and nurses, just barely avoiding running into some of them, "Excuse me!" she called again, before turning the corner into Katie's room, only to see the blonde teenager sitting up, perfectly healthy, reading a magazine.

"Took you long enough," she commented in annoyance, and Annabelle stared at her in disbelief.

"You're okay? The nurse paged us '911'," Meredith said, breathing heavily from all the running.

"I had to go all 'Exorcist' to get her to even pick up the phone," Katie said as Meredith and Annabelle walked forward, the blonde sister picking up their patient's chart.

"Wait," Annabelle spoke up, her voice stating clearly that if she wasn't a doctor, she would kill the girl with her own two hands. "There's nothing wrong with you? Nothing?"

"I'm bored," Katie said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You little..." Annabelle trailed off, her fist clenching around the pen she was holding in her hand.

"We're not cruise directors," Meredith said in annoyance as she walked forward, pulling her stethoscope off her neck and checking Katie out anyways.

"You don't have to wig out," Katie commented, making Annabelle grit her teeth so that she wouldn't say anything inappropriate, "The pageant's supposed to be on cable, but this crappy hospital doesn't get the channel," the teenager continued, and the sisters looked at her in disbelief. "If that cow Kylie Wood is gonna walk off with _my_ crown, I have to see it. Can you call someone?"

"Okay, _this_..." Annabelle finally snapped, gesturing to the place they were currently in, "Is a hospital. There are sick people here, _dying_ people. Go to sleep, and stop wasting our time, for God's sake," she snapped, before proceeding to walk out, Meredith following her closely.

"But I can't sleep. My head's all full,"

"That's called 'thinking'. Go with it," Annabelle snapped in annoyance, barely turning her head to glance at the girl before walking out of the room with Meredith by her side, "Unbelievable," she hissed once they were out of the patient's room, and Meredith nodded in agreement as she sighed.

"I know,"

* * *

"4-B's got post-op pneumonia," Annabelle heard one of the male interns, the same one who first called George 007, say as she walked into one of the post-op rooms, where she also saw George tending to a patient.

"Are you sure that's the right diagnosis?" a nurse asked the intern as Annabelle stopped by the desk.

"Well, I don't know, I'm only an intern. Here's an idea, why don't you go spend four years in med school and then let me know if it's the right diagnosis?" he said sarcastically, "She's short of breath, she's got fever, she's... post-op. Start the antibiotics," he ordered again, before walking over to where Annabelle was standing, "God, I hate nurses," he commented, before taking a few seconds to run his eyes up and down Annabelle's face as he noticed her undeniably beautiful features, "I'm Alex," he introduced himself, offering her a flirtatious smile. "I'm with Jeremy, you're, uh, you're with the Nazi, right?"

"She may not have pneumonia, you know," Annabelle finally spoke up, not answering the man's question, as she already decided that he's an ass, and not looking up at him as she continued to fill out one of the charts. "She could be splinting or have a P.E.,"

"Like I said, I hate nurses," Alex said, proceeding to walk to the other side of the desk as Annabelle's head snapped up.

"What did you just say?" she asked, disbelief and anger clear in her voice. "Did you just call me a nurse?"

"Well, if the white cap fits," Alex stated simply, and Annabelle opened her mouth to either retort or snap, or both, but was cut off by her pager. Still staring at the undeniably handsome intern, she held the pager in front of her face, only to sigh in annoyance as she saw that it was another 911 page for Katie Bryce.

"Damn it," she whispered, before running out of the room, knowing that if she didn't run and the Nazi found out, her head would be bitten off.

"Is she seeing anybody?" Alex asked one of his fellow interns just as George walked over to the desk.

"I don't know," the intern responded and Alex whistled.

"She's hot,"

"I'm friends with her," George spoke up, and the two other men looked at him. "I mean, kind of friends - not, you know, actually friends, exactly, but we're tight. And we hang out - I me-really, only just today-"

"Dude, dude," Alex cut him off. "Stop talking,"

* * *

Annabelle quickly ran into Katie's room, only to see already at least ten nurses running around as the young girl seized.

"She's having multiple grand mal seizures," one of the male nurses quickly said to her as she stood still, her breathing shallow from the running, her eyes seeming to be incapable of moving off of the seizing girl, "Now, how do you want to proceed?" the nurse asked, but Annabelle couldn't respond and couldn't move as her eyes were still on Katie. This wasn't med school anymore. This wasn't a case where, if she screwed up, someone would be there to save her or the patient. This was real life, in which _she_ was the doctor and it was _her_ responsibility to keep a 15-year-old girl alive, "Dr. Grey, are you listening to me? She's got diazepam - two milligrams lorazepam - I just gave the second dose. Dr. Grey, you need to tell us what you want to do. Dr. Grey!" the nurse called again, and Annabelle finally managed to get a grip as she grabbed the chart.

"Okay, she's full on lorazepam?" she asked.

"She's had four milligrams," another nurse confirmed as Katie continued to seize, a pillow now between her legs as the nurses kept her on her side.

"You paged Dr. Bailey and Dr. Shepherd?" Annabelle asked, her voice shaking the tiniest bit.

"Lorazepam's not working," one of the nurses said.

"Phenobarbital - load her with phenobarbital," Annabelle ordered and the nurses obeyed.

"Pheno's in,"

"No change!"

"You paged Dr. Shepherd?" Annabelle asked again.

"I just told you!"

"Well, page him again, stat! And where the hell is Dr. Grey?!" Annabelle asked, looking around for her sister, who was nowhere to be seen.

"I paged her at the same time I paged you," one of the nurses said.

"What do you want to do?" another one asked, just as Meredith ran in.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Annabelle exclaimed, but Meredith only stared at Katie in shock.

"Dr. Grey, you need to tell us what you want to do!" one of the nurses called as Katie continued to seize, and the two sisters exchanged panicked glances, just as Katie flatlined. "Heart stopped!"

"Code blue! Code blue, code blue!"

"Get the crash cart!

"I'll get it, right away!"

"Oh, God," Annabelle whispered, before shoving the chart in Meredith's hands and quickly grabbing the paddles, "Charge the paddles to 200!" she ordered, and positioned the paddles above Katie's chest.

"Charged,"

"Clear!" Annabelle called out, before shocking Katie.

"Still v-fib, nothing,"

"Charging. 19 seconds,"

"Charge to 300," Annabelle ordered.

"300," the nurse charged the paddles, and Annabelle shocked Katie again.

"Anything?"

"27 seconds,"

"Charge to 360," Annabelle ordered again as the monitor continued to emit the flatline sound, and shocked Katie again, "Come on, Katie!" she pressed as Meredith ran over to start chest compressions.

"49 seconds,"

"At 60 seconds, you're supposed to admin her another drug," one of the nurses said.

"Charge again," Annabelle said and then looked up as no one moved, "I said charge again!" she yelled, and the nurse charged the paddles again, allowing Annabelle to shock Katie. Thankfully, her heart started beating only a second later.

"Anything?"

"I see sinus rhythm,"

"Blood pressure's coming up,"

"Alright. Pressure's returning,"

"Rate's coming back,"

"What the hell happened?" Dr. Shepherd asked as he ran in, and Annabelle breathed out in relief.

"She had a seizure and her heart stopped," she explained, putting the paddles away.

"A seizure? You were supposed to be monitoring her," he snapped as he quickly wake over to the patient, while Annabelle walked over to stand beside her sister.

"We checked on her and she-"

"I got it. Just-just go," Derek cut Meredith off, already checking on the patient. "Somebody give me her... Give me her chart, please," The two sisters stood where they were for a few more seconds, before slowly turning around and walking out of the room.

"I cannot believe he's blaming us for this. We couldn't have stopped her from having a seizure even if we tried!" Annabelle exclaimed quietly in disbelief, just as they passed Dr. Bailey in the hallway.

"You get a 911, you page me immediately, not in the five minutes it takes _you_ to get to the emergency, _immediately_. You're on my team and if somebody dies, it's my ass, you hear me?!" she chastised, but the two doctors only walked past her. They managed to get downstairs, and as soon as they reached the desk where Cristina was, Annabelle collapsed on a chair, while Meredith simply kept walking.

"Meredith?" Cristina called out, but the blonde payed her no attention as she walked outside, ignoring the rain. Annabelle and Cristina shared confused glances, before the brunette Grey pulled herself off the chair and the two women followed Meredith together. The blonde continued to walk down the grass path, before picking up the pace and running towards a tree as Annabelle and Cristina stopped in front of the door and watched while she put a hand on the bark of the tree and hunched over, throwing up. The two simply stood where they were, waiting, and Meredith took in a deep breath, before turning around and walking back to the hospital.

"If either of you tell anyone, ever..." she trailed off as she walked past them, and Cristina looked at Annabelle, who simply shrugged in response.

 **Hour 24**

"What are you doing?" Annabelle asked in confusion, staring down at the banana in Cristina's lap as she and Meredith sat on a desk by the window, while Annabelle sat on a chair beside them in the conference room, which was full of interns.

"I'm suturing a banana with the vain hope that it wakes up my brain," Cristina responded, and George laughed from his seat a few feet away, "What are you smiling at, 007?" Cristina asked, making him stop laughing immediately. "I'm sorry, I get mean when I'm tired,"

"You know what? I don't care," George said with a smile. "I comforted a family, and I get to hang out in the O.R. today. All is well,"

"Does anyone know why we're here?" Annabelle asked tiredly, just as Dr. Shepherd walked in.

"Well, good morning," he greeted the interns, and Annabelle just barely withheld a glare she wanted to throw at him, "I'm gonna do something pretty rare for a surgeon. I'm gonna ask interns for help. I've got this kid, Katie Bryce. Right now, she's a mystery... She doesn't respond to our meds. The labs are clear, the scans are pure, but she's having seizures - grand mal seizures with no visible cause. She's a ticking clock. She's gonna die if I don't make a diagnosis, which is where you come in. I can't do it alone. I need your extra minds, extra eyes. I need you to play detective. I need you to find out why Katie's having seizures. I know you're tired, you're busy, you've got more work than you can possible handle. I understand, so I'm gonna give you an incentive. Whoever finds the answer, rides with me. Katie needs surgery. You get to do what no interns get to do - scrub in to assist on an advanced procedure. Dr. Bailey's gonna hand you Katie's chart. The clock is ticking fast, people. If we're gonna save Katie's life, we have to do it soon," he finished, walking out of the room, and all the interns immediately grabbed onto whatever folder they could, willing to do anything to get in on that surgery.

* * *

"Did you just page me?" Annabelle heard the voice she recognized as Alex, the flirtatious and cocky intern she met a few hours earlier, as she filled out some post-op notes, not looking up though straining to hear what was being said.

"Yes, 4-B's still short of breath," the nurse responded to Alex's question, as Annabelle kept her eyes on the chart she was filling out.

"Look, give the antibiotics time to work," Alex sighed.

"The antibiotics should have worked by now,"

"She's old, she's freaking ancient. She's lucky she's still breathing," Alex said, and Annabelle couldn't help but scoff quietly, though she kept her on the chart, "I got a shot to scrub in downstairs on a patient that wasn't alive during the civil war. Don't page me again," Alex said, before walking out of the room, Annabelle's eyes following his movements. _What a douche,_ she thought to herself.

"Hey, I want in on Shepherd's surgery," Annabelle suddenly looked up as Cristina approached her, Meredith following along, "You two have been the interns on Katie since the start. You want to work together?" the young Asian woman continued as Annabelle put the chart she was filling out away and began walking down the hall with the two women. "If we find the answer, we all have an equal chance of scrubbing in,"

"Sure, what the hell," Annabelle shrugged.

"I'll work with you but I don't want in on the surgery. You can have it," Meredith said, and Cristina and Annabelle both looked at her like she was insane.

"Mer, you do realize this is the biggest opportunity any intern will ever get, right?" Annabelle asked.

"I don't want to spend any more time with Shepherd than I have to,"

"What do you have against Shepherd?" Cristina asked, while Annabelle tried to keep herself from rolling her eyes at her sister. She understood where the blonde was coming from, but, at the same time, she found it ridiculous. So the one-night stand went south. So what? This was an opportunity that could affect their entire careers!

"If we find the answer, the surgery's yours. Then you two can battle it out," Meredith said. "Do you want to work together or not?"

"Deal," Cristina grinned.

* * *

"So she doesn't have anoxia, chronic renal failure, or acidosis," Cristina listed as she and the Grey sisters sat on the library floor, multiple folders lying around them.

"Yeah, and it's not a tumor because her C.T.'s clean," Annabelle added.

"Are you seriously not gonna tell me why you won't work with Shepherd?" Cristina spoke up again, this time directing he words to the blonde intern.

"No," Meredith simply answered. "What about infection?"

"Nope," Annabelle replied, "There's no white count, she has no C.T. lesions, no fevers, nothing in her spinal tap..." she continued as she flipped through the papers.

"Just tell me," Cristina pressed.

"You can't comment, make a face, or react in any way," Meredith finally said, and Cristina simply looked at her, silently agreeing to the terms, while Annabelle continued to flip through the papers, already knowing the story, "We had sex," the blonde said, and Cristina stared at her, just barely stopped her eyes from widening.

"What about an aneurysm?" she settled for asking, and Meredith shook her head.

"No blood on the C.T. and no headaches," she said.

"Okay. There's no drug use, uh, no pregnancy, no trauma..." Cristina trailed off before looking at Meredith again. "Was he good? I mean, he looks like he'd be good. Was it any good?"

"Well, based on the sounds - very _loud_ sounds - coming from my living room at 3:00am, I'm guessing he was, indeed, very good," Annabelle said, looking up for the first time, just barely stopping herself from laughing as Meredith glared at her before getting up.

"We're out of answers," she said, putting one of the folders away on the shelf, deciding to ignore her sister's words. "What if no one comes up with anything?"

"You mean what if she dies?" Cristina asked.

"Yeah,"

"This is gonna sound really bad but I really wanted that surgery," Cristina said, and Annabelle cracked a smile.

"She's just never gonna get the chance to turn into a person," Meredith said, leaning against one of the shelves. "The sum total of her existence will be almost winning Miss Teen Whatever,"

"You know what her pageant talent is?" Annabelle spoke up, looking at Cristina.

"They have talent?" the Asian woman asked in dry disbelief.

"Rhythmic gymnastics," Annabelle said, a smile growing on her lips as Meredith laughed.

"Oh, come on," Cristina joined in on the laughter.

"What is rhythmic gymnastics? I don't kno-I can't even say it, I don't know what it is," Meredith chuckled as Annabelle and Cristina laughed.

"I think it's something with like a ball and a..." Cristina trailed off as she noticed the sisters' smiles faltering, both seeming to get the same idea, which was confirmed as they looked at each other with wide eyes. "What? Guys, what?"

"Come on," Annabelle simply said, before getting up and running out of the library alongside her sister, with Cristina following closely.

* * *

"The only thing that she would possibly need is an angiogram," Cristina said to the sisters as they all ran down the hallway, the two other women having explained their theory to her briefly on their way, "Oh. Oh, Dr. Shepherd!" she called as she saw the neurosurgeon getting on an elevator. "Just one moment, um, uh, Katie competes in beauty pageants,"

"I know that but we have to save her life, anyway," Derek replied, and if it were any other situation, Annabelle would have honestly laughed at the man's humor.

"Okay, she has no headaches, uh, no neck pain, her C.T. is clean," Cristina continued, before rushing forward to keep the elevator doors from closing.

"There's no medical proof of an aneurysm," Annabelle spoke up.

"Right," Derek drawled.

"But what if she has one, anyway?" Annabelle said, which seemed to catch Derek's attention at least a bit.

"There are no indicators," he said.

"Uh, but she twisted her ankle a few weeks ago when she was practicing for the pageant," Cristina continued, all the meanwhile trying to keep the elevator doors from closing.

"Look, I appreciate you trying to help, but-"

"She fell," Meredith cut Derek off. "When she twisted her ankle, she fell,"

"It was no big deal, not even a bump on her head, she got right back up, iced her ankle and everything was fine," Annabelle spoke up again. "The fall was so minor that her doctor didn't even think to mention it when I was taking her history, but she _did_ fall,"

"Well, you know what the chance is that a minor fall could burst an aneurysm?" Derek asked, "One in a million - literally," he said, just as the elevator doors finally closed. The three young women all let out a sigh, before turning around and proceeding to walk away, only to stop as the elevator doors opened only a second later, Derek standing before them. "Let's go,"

"Go? Go where?" Annabelle asked as he starting walking, the three women following.

"To find out if Katie's one in a million,"

* * *

The four doctors now stood in the tech room, watching as an unconscious Katie was scanned on the other side of the glass, their eyes trained on the monitor that would determine whether Annabelle and Meredith's theory was correct. Only a few seconds later, the scan came up on the monitor, and Dr. Shepherd's eyes widened.

"I'll be damned,"

"There it is," the tech guy pointed to the aneurysm on the monitor, and the surgeons all leaned forward.

"It's minute but it's there," Derek nodded. "It's a subarachnoid hemorrhage. She's bleeding into her brain,"

* * *

"She could have gone through her entire life without it ever being a problem," Derek spoke to the three interns as they all walked down the hallway a few minutes later, "One tap in the right spot..." he snapped his fingers.

"And it exploded," Annabelle said and Derek nodded.

"Exactly. Now I can fix it. You three did great work. Love to stay and kiss your asses but I got to tell Katie's parents she's having surgery," he said, just as they arrived at one of the nurses' desks. "Katie Bryce's chart, please,"

"Here you go,"

"Uh, D-Dr. Shepherd, you said that you-you'd pick someone to scrub in if we helped," Cristina approached the neurosurgeon after a few seconds of silence.

"Oh, yes, right, um... I'm sorry, I can't take you all. I can only squeeze in two, at most. It's gonna be a full house," Derek said, putting his hand on Cristina's shoulder before turning to look at the other two interns, "Meredith, Annabelle, I'll see you in O.R.," he said before walking away. As soon as he was gone from sight, Cristina turned around to look at Annabelle and Meredith - the latter in particular - accusingly, before walking away.

"Cristina..." Meredith tried to call, but to no avail.

* * *

"Izzie," Annabelle heard Cristina say as she saw the blonde open her mouth to say something as she finally came in sight, and the two interns looked up at her. Annabelle waited to see if Cristina would snap at her, but after a few seconds of silence the woman went back to ripping the sticker off of her water bottle angrily and Annabelle took it as a cue that it was safe to stay, so she moved to sit down on the gurney Izzie was sitting on.

"Maybe Meredith couldn't-"

"Izzie," Cristina snapped, and the blonde quickly shut her mouth, before all three looked up, only to see Meredith.

"I'll tell him I changed my mind-"

"You know, don't give me, don't do me any favors, it's fine," Cristina cut her off, though her tone made it very clear that nothing was fine.

"Cristina-"

"You know what, you did a cutthroat thing, deal with it," Cristina snapped. "Don't come to me for absolution, you want to be a shark, be a shark,"

"I'm not-"

"Oh, yes, you are," Cristina cut Meredith off again as Izzie and Annabelle stayed silent, not wanting to get involved, "Only it makes you feel all bad in your warm, gooey places. No, _screw you_. I don't get picked for surgeries 'cause I slept with my boss and I didn't get into med school 'cause I have a famous mother, you know, some of us have to earn what we get," she said, before going back to ripping the sticker off, while Meredith and Annabelle stared at her before the blonde walked away.

"You know what..." Annabelle spoke up after a few moments of silence, "I get that you're pissed, I do, but that - what you just did there... that was way out of line," she said, before jumping off of the gurney before Izzie could stop her and walking away, deciding that working on some more post-op notes was way better than spending her time with Cristina, especially when the woman was in a bad mood.

* * *

"She's still short of breath," Annabelle heard someone say as soon as she walked into one of the post-op rooms, and looked up, only to see the Chief, directing his words to Alex. "Did you get an ABG or a chest film?"

"Oh, yes, sir, I did," the intern said with a proud grin.

"And what did you see?" the Chief asked as Meredith grabbed one of the charts from the nurses' desk.

"Oh, well, I, uh, I had a lot of patients last night-"

"Name the common causes of post-op fever," the Chief cut him off and Annabelle couldn't help but look up.

"Uh, yes-"

"From your head, not from a book," the Chief cut Alex off again as the intern reached into his pocket, "Don't look it up, learn it, it should be in your head. Name the common causes of post-op fever,"

"Uh, the common causes of post-op-"

"Can anybody name the common causes of post-op fever?" the Chief asked loudly, looking around the room, and all the interns reached into their pockets for their notepads or their mini textbooks.

"Wind, water, wound, walking, and wonder drugs - the five W's. Most of the time it's wind - splinting or pneumonia," Annabelle spoke up, "Pneumonia's easy to assume, especially if you're too busy to do the tests," she added, looking at Alex, unable to help herself.

"What do you think's wrong with 4-B?" the Chief asked Annabelle after giving Alex a look.

"The fourth 'W', 'walking'. I think she's a prime candidate for a pulmonary embolus," Annabelle said.

"How would you diagnose?"

"Spiral C.T., V/Q scan, provide 02, dose with heparin, and consult for an IVC filter," Annabelle responded after taking a second to register that this was actually happening. She was an actual doctor, asked to diagnose an actual patient by an actual chief of surgery.

"Do exactly as she says, then tell your resident that I want you off this case," the Chief said to Alex, who nodded quickly, "I'd know you anywhere. You have the exact same determined expression as your mother," the Chief said to Annabelle quietly as he stopped beside her while walking out. "Welcome to the game,"

* * *

"You ready for this?" Annabelle asked her sisters as they stood by the door of the O.R. Derek was already occupying, their masks on.

"Are you?" Meredith retorted, not answering the question, and Annabelle also stayed silent as they simultaneously stepped into the O.R.

"Alright, everybody. It's a beautiful night to save lives," Derek said loudly as soon as they walked in. "Let's have some fun,"

The next couple of hours Annabelle would always remember as the most thrilling of her life. Witnessing her first surgery - other than George's appendectomy - standing in the very O.R. it was being performed in, standing beside one of the best neurosurgeons in the country while he performed it, seeing the live brain tissue, jumping out of the way when the patient started coding... everything was just as she always imagined it to be only 100 times more intense. She could hear and feel her heart beating the entire time, but she didn't care. She could see her sister and Derek Shepherd looking at each other simultaneously and when the other wasn't looking, but she didn't care. All that mattered was the brain tissue she got to see as closely as any surgeon ever would be able to see it. That was all that mattered. This, she could tell, was the beginning of the real career ahead of her. And finally, even if for just a split moment, she felt ready.

 _I can't think of any one reason why I want to be a surgeon. But I can think of a thousand reasons why I should quit. They make it hard on purpose. There are lives in our hands. There comes a moment when... it's more than just a game. And you either take that step forward... or turn around and walk away. I could quit. But here's the thing... I love the playing field._

 **Hour 48**

"So..." Annabelle turned around as she heard the all-too-familiar voice, and looked up at the smiling face of Derek Shepherd. "Was the surgery everything you expected it to be?"

"More than that, if it's even possible," she chuckled almost breathlessly as they stood in the scrub room, watching as the nurses cleaned up the O.R. "That was such a high,"

"Yeah," Derek smiled, "It always is," he said, before offering her another smile as he patted her on the shoulder. "I'll see you around,"

"See ya," Annabelle smiled.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ I thought it would be interesting for Meredith to have a sister - an actual, full-blood sister whom she grew up with. I've seen a lot of stories about the characters in the show with an original plot, and I haven't seen many OC stories in the Grey's Anatomy fandom. And those that I did see, I saw OCs who are new doctors at Seattle Grace, Jackson's sister, Mark's sister, Addison's sister, Derek's sister, and so on. But I've never seen Meredith's sister. I thought this might be interesting, an OC who actually grew up with Meredith, experienced what she did in childhood, and kind of changed Meredith's story, I think, because she wasn't completely alone as a child if she had a sister by her side.


	2. The First Cut Is the Deepest

_**Disclaimer:** I don't own Grey's Anatomy in any shape or form. But I do own my OC._

 _ **A/N:** Okay, here's the next chapter of 'Operations. Temptations. Frustrations.' I don;t know how much of the show I intend to follow at this point. Season 1, 2 and 3 should pretty much stay the same with the exception of some minor and major changes. The major change will probably be Lexie's role in the story, as well as Alex's. I think Alex may make some different choices as well._

 _This will be the chapter where Annabelle actually starts working in the hospital more as an individual than just part of the group._

 ** _Reviews:_**

 _Guest:_ Well, I honestly don't understand where you got the idea that this is a Derek/OC story, seeing as I tagged [Meredith G., Derek S.] which means that Derek and Meredith are going to be a couple in this story.

 _guest:_ I'm not replacing Meredith with Annabelle. The amazing thing about Grey's is that every character has an individual plot, and I can fit Annabelle anywhere. The only reason why I had her be such a huge part of everything Meredith was in the first chapter is because in the show, Meredith is the main character, and her scenes are how we meet all the other characters. I especially needed Annabelle to meet Alex like that, but that is the only reason why I put her in that scene like that.

 _Jackie:_ Thank you! I'm glad you like the story! And yeah, I honestly don't understand why people assume this is a Derek/OC story; that wasn't my intention at all. It was literally just Derek being nice to Annabelle. Thank you for your support!

 _LPeck_ : Thank you! I'm glad you like it! Well, I don't want to spoil anything yet about that, sorry... ;)

 _Guest:_ Well, these tags exist to tag the characters the story is going to be mainly focusing on and Alex is going to be a _huge_ part of this story.

 _MD:_ Well, the fact is you only read one chapter of my story so far. And there weren't many moments between Annabelle and Derek at all. They met, acknowledged each other in the hallway and then had a very short polite conversation. And I think you misunderstood the last part. That was simply Derek being nice when they were in the _scrub room_. He still went outside of the O.R. and he still had the iconic moment with Meredith.

 _RHatch89:_ Thank you! I'm glad you like it!

 _gguest:_ Like I said before to another reviewer, you misunderstood. The last part of the chapter was Derek simply being nice to Annabelle as they were in the _scrub room_. He still went into the _hallway_ and he still had that iconic moment with Meredith. I just didn't write it. And Annabelle is not taking over Meredith's life. I would never want to do that, especially since - let's face it - Meredith's life kind of sucks. And it _was_ Meredith's diagnosis. She and Annabelle _both_ got the idea, which is pretty realistic considering they both worked on Katie since the beginning. And I didn't do it so that Annabelle could have moments with Derek, but rather so that she could be a bigger part of the chapter, seeing as there weren't many scenes without Meredith in the first episode. And I'm not afraid that Merder fans won't read this story if it's not Merder. I know for a fact that they won't, but that doesn't bother me. This _is_ a Merder story. It's not the main couple and it's not the main focus, but it is Merder. And no, Annabelle is not me nor did I ever intend to make her like me, thank you very much (no need to be rude just because you think this isn't a story about your favorite couple, by the way). And you're right, this isn't a Merder story so far. You know why? Because you only read _one chapter_. And it has nothing to do with "Annabelle being the best and Mer being just for sex" (I honestly have no idea where you got that from). And Annabelle did not replace Meredith in every scene with Derek. Meredith and Derek still slept together, they still met like they did in the show, they still had a talk in the stairwell, they still talked about sleeping together while Derek was shaving Katie's head, they still looked at each other during the surgery (which I did mention, by the way), they still had their iconic moment at the end of the episode. There was _plenty_ of Merder! I just didn't write it!

 _Patsy:_ Like I said 100 times already, this _is_ a Merder story, and you can't say it's not just because there weren't many scenes between them in _one_ chapter. The only reason why I had Annabelle do so much of what Meredith did is because Meredith is the main character of the show and that's how we met all the characters in the first episode, by watching their scenes with _Meredith_. But I needed Annabelle to meet Alex like that and I needed her to be where Meredith was to make her part of the first episode. And yeah, sorry about the updated but never posted chapter, my setting got a bit messed up and instead of replacing a chapter I posted it as a new one and then had to delete the first version.

 _MerG:_ Well, Annabelle is the central of this story because the OC is the central of this story. That's the point. And like I said 100 times before, Meredith and Derek still had all of their iconic moments, I just didn't write them because they are not the main focus of the story! And you probably misunderstood (like many other people) the last part of the chapter. Annabelle and Derek had a polite conversation in the _scrub room_. Meredith and Derek had their iconic moment in the _hallway_.

 _Taffyrose:_ I'm glad you like it! Well, there is definitely going to be _something_ between Alex and Annabelle, though I won't say what ;)

 **Operations. Temptations. Frustrations.**

 **Chapter 2**

 **The First Cut Is the Deepest**

 _It's all about lines. The finish line at the end_ _of residency. Waiting in line for a chance at the operating table. And then, there's the most important line - the line separating you from the people you work with. It doesn't help to get too familiar. To make friends. You need boundaries between you and the rest of the world. Other people are far too messy. It's all about lines. Drawing lines in the sand... and praying like hell no one crosses them._

"How is she?" Annabelle asked her sister as they walked through the hallways of the hospital they now work at, heading to the locker room. Today, she was wearing navy blue pants with a light brown belt around the waist, a loose white and navy blue striped shirt with 3/4 sleeves, and black flats. Too lazy to do anything special with her hair, she simply pulled the front strands back and tied them in a small bun at the back of her head, leaving the rest of her hair to rest on her shoulders.

"You know, you could always just visit her and see for yourself," Meredith replied, glancing at her sister before they entered the locker room, and Annabelle simply gave her a look, making the blonde sigh. "She's sick, Anna,"

"I know that," Annabelle defended herself, "It doesn't change the fact that she was the worst mother in the world," she said, watching as Meredith pinned the sheet with the sign 'Roommates Wanted' on the bulletin board. "Look, I just want to be sure that she's okay. As long as that's the case, I am completely fine with not seeing her. More than fine, actually,"

"She's okay," Meredith finally said after a few seconds of silence, and Annabelle nodded.

"Thank you," she said, just as the locker room started to fill with their fellow interns. The two women shared a glance, before heading toward their own lockers, and quickly changing out of their clothes and into their scrubs. Annabelle didn't miss the intern she met the other day, Alex, eyeing her up and down as she stripped down to her tank top, but payed him no mind. With the exception of scoffing quietly to herself in disgust as she watched him do the exact same thing to Izzie.

* * *

"Look, I'm sure you're very nice, but we're very particular about who lives in our house, and you're just not right," Meredith said kindly to one of the female interns as she sat on one of the chairs in the waiting area, the intern sitting on the coffee table in front of her and Annabelle standing beside her sister, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Why?" the intern asked, and Annabelle inwardly cringed at her whiny voice. _Oh, yeah_ , she thought, _there is no way I'm letting that woman into my house_ , "Look, I'm quiet. No loud music, no parties," the intern pressed as she moved to sit beside Meredith, glancing between the two sisters.

"Where were you when the _Challenger_ exploded?" Annabelle spoke up for the first time, and the intern looked at her strangely.

"The what?"

"The space shuttle, _Challenger_ ,"

"Uh, I think I was in kindergarten," the intern replied, confused, and Annabelle smiled a fake smile.

"Exactly. No," she said, before grabbing her sister's hand and pulling her away from the woman.

"You know, you could be a bit nicer," Meredith noted as she pulled her hand out of Annabelle's, and the brunette looked at her like she just grew a second head.

"Okay. If you think that I'm going to let someone like _her_ move into our house, you are greatly mistaken," she said, before walking over to where Izzie, Cristina and George were standing, all having witnessed the conversation.

* * *

"Why do you put up posters for roommates if you don't want roommates?" Izzie asked, looking at the two sisters confusedly as soon as Meredith came back with coffee.

"We _do_ want roommates, it's just..." Meredith trailed off.

"Look, we're together 100 hours a week, you want to live together, too?" Annabelle asked, a bit of annoyance clear in her voice.

"I see you bring bribes now, huh?" Cristina said as she eyed the coffee in Meredith's hand.

"I need a place to live. My mom irons my scrubs, I have to get out of there," George spoke up, looking at Meredith and Annabelle pleadingly.

"It's not a bribe," Meredith called after Cristina before looking at George. "I don't think it's a good idea,"

"Look, I can put down last, first, and deposit," George continued, begging Annabelle with his eyes, which she found very hard to resist.

"It's totally a bribe," Cristina said again.

"I can cook," Izzie spoke up. "And I'm an obsessive cleaner,"

"It would be nice to have someone who's _willing_ to clean that house," Annabelle said to Meredith, and Izzie nodded rapidly, looking at Meredith hopefully.

"No," the blonde Grey said firmly. "I just want two total strangers who I don't have to talk to or be nice to, and it's not a bribe, it's a mocha latte," she said, directing the last part to Cristina as Dr. Bailey walked up to the group.

"George, you're running the code team. Meredith, take the trauma pager. Cristina, deliver the weekend labs to the patients. Izzie, Annabelle, you're on sutures," she said, giving out the orders swiftly before heading towards the stairs.

"Dr. Bailey," Meredith called, following after her, in turn making the rest of the group follow them, "I was hoping to assist you in the O.R. today, maybe do a minor procedure? I think I'm ready. Mocha latte?" she finished, holding out the coffee to the short woman.

"If she gets to cut, I want to cut, too," Cristina spoke up.

"Yeah, me, too," Annabelle said.

"Me, too," Izzie spoke up eagerly.

"I wouldn't mind another shot," George also spoke up. "I mean, if everybody else is..."

"Stop talking," Dr. Bailey said firmly, holding up her hand, "Every intern wants to perform their first surgery. That's not your job. Do you know what your job is? To make your resident happy. Do I look happy? No. Why? Because my interns are whiny. You know what will make me look happy? Having a code team staffed, having the trauma pages answered, having the weekend labs delivered, and having someone down in the pit, doing the sutures," she said, looking at all of her interns one by one before grabbing the cup of coffee from Meredith and proceeding to walk up the stairs. "No one holds a scalpel until I'm so happy I'm Mary freakin' Poppins!"

"Which roughly translates to: 'none of us will _ever_ hold a scalpel'," Annabelle muttered, and Izzie sighed in disappointment from beside her.

"Yeah, mocha latte my ass," Cristina said to Meredith quietly, and Annabelle sighed. More than anything, she wanted to cut - not stitch.

"Why are you all standing there? Move!" Dr. Bailey called from the balcony, and the interns' heads snapped up before they quickly scattered, heading where they were ordered to.

* * *

"Intern was reassigned so he's mine now," Dr. Bailey said as she walked up to Cristina and George, Alex trailing behind her, "Have him shadow you for the day. You show him how I do things," she said to Cristina before walking away from the interns.

"Alex Karev, nice to meet you," Alex introduced himself with a small smile, extending his hand for Cristina to shake.

"You're the pig who called Annabelle a nurse," Cristina said as she shook his hand. "Yeah. I hate you on principle,"

"And you're the pushy, overbearing kiss-ass, I, uh, I hate you, too," Alex said as they began walking down the hallway.

"Oh, it should be fun, then,"

* * *

"Alright... Mrs. Lu," Annabelle read the patient's name, before looking down at the small Asian woman around her 60's and offering her a smile, "I'm gonna sew this up for you," she said, gesturing to the cut on the woman's arm before pulling herself a chair and sitting down beside the bed Mrs. Lu was sitting on, "Are you allergic to any medication?" she asked, pulling over the suture tray and preparing to numb the woman's arm. However, she looked up as the woman began speaking in a foreign language, which Annabelle was about 95% sure was Chinese, "Oh, um... D-Do you speak English?" she asked, but Mrs. Lu only replied in Chinese, "Okay, um... Hey, Izzie!" she called to her fellow intern, who looked up as she came back from the supply closet with more suture kits and quickly walked over to her.

"Yeah?"

"You wouldn't happen to speak Chinese, would you?" the brunette asked.

"Sorry, uh... w-what do you need?" Izzie shook her head, but looked over at Mrs. Lu as she once again said something in Chinese, before sharing a looked with Annabelle, who simply nodded, defeated, "I-I'll find, um... Does anybody here speak Chinese?" she called out to the people surrounding them, but only received multiple shakes of heads in return.

"Well, this is gonna be fun day," Annabelle said sarcastically as Izzie sighed.

* * *

"Since when does the possession of ovaries become an insult?!" was the first thing Annabelle heard as she walked over to George, Meredith and Cristina, who were all standing by the nurses' desk, or - in George's case - sitting.

"What?" she looked at the Asian woman weirdly, but Cristina just waved her off.

"Nothing,"

"Okay..." Annabelle trailed off, still looking at her colleague weirdly before sighing as she leaned against the desk.

"You okay?" George asked.

"I have a patient in the pit who only speaks Chinese and a has a deep cut that needs at least six stitches. But I can't stitch her up without numbing her, and I can't numb her without knowing if she's allergic to any medication, which I will never know because she doesn't speak English and I can't get hold of the translator!" she exclaimed in annoyance.

"Where is she now?" Meredith asked.

"I left her with Izzie. I've been trying to figure something out for the past 20 minutes. Now, it's her turn," Annabelle said.

"Well, your sister is carrying a penis around in a jar," George spoke up, and Annabelle looked at him weirdly before looking down at the cooler on the desk, noticing it for the first time.

"Oh, from the rape surgery?" Cristina asked as she walked over to the cooler.

"Yeah," Meredith responded, "And it's not a jar, it's a cooler," she said as Cristina opened the cooler to take a look.

"Wait, what rape surgery?" Annabelle asked, and they all looked at her.

"You didn't hear?" Meredith asked, her brows furrowing.

"No, I've been stuck in the pit all day,"

"A rape victim came in a few hours ago. A young girl, 5'2", no more than 100 pounds, beaten to hell but still alive after simultaneous brain and abdomen surgeries, so she's definitely got a chance," Meredith explained briefly. "I hope,"

"So where does the penis come in?" Annabelle asked, also taking a look into the cooler. "Oh,"

"Yeah. She bit it off," Meredith said, and all three of her fellow interns looked at her with wide eyes.

"She...?" Annabelle trailed off with wide eyes as George visibly cringed. "Wait, she _bit_ it off?"

"Yeah. And the rape kit came back negative, so she's definitely a fighter," Meredith said with a slightly dazed look in her eyes, while the other three interns remained with their eyes wide.

"Wow,"

"Yeah,"

"Talk about taking a bite out of crime," Cristina commented before walking away, and Annabelle chuckled, shaking her head, before sighing as she realized that that was probably all the time she had for a break and that she has to get back to the pit. Which she was not looking forward to at all.

* * *

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Annabelle asked Cristina as she arrived back at the pit, her brows furrowing in confusion as she noticed the Asian woman standing next to Izzie, who was sitting on a chair, her body slumped forward in exhaustion.

"That's what I'd like to know," Cristina replied as her eyes flickered between Izzie and Mrs. Lu, who was still sitting on the bed Annabelle left her on and started saying something in Chinese again.

"Look, I wouldn't have called you but I still can't get a hold of the translator. Can you just ask her what's wrong?" the blonde pleaded, making Cristina look at her weirdly.

"No," she simply said.

"Why not?" Izzie asked, her voice on the edge of a whine, which Annabelle couldn't blame her for seeing as both of their hands were numb from all the sutures they've done all day.

"Because I grew up in Beverly Hills. The only Chinese I know is from a Mr. Chow's menu. Besides, I'm Korean," Cristina said, before leaving the pit as Annabelle turned to look at Izzie with raised eyebrows.

"Seriously?" was all she could manage to say, and Izzie looked at her.

"What?" she asked, but Annabelle only chuckled in amusement as she walked across the room, taking a chart from a nurse and heading to her next patient.

* * *

"Shh, I'm almost done, I'm almost done," Annabelle cooed to a crying five-year-old girl as she stitched up her hand, while the child's mother tried to calm her daughter down. Even though the little girl, Layla, didn't feel any pain since Annabelle numbed her arm from elbow down, she hasn't stopped crying since Annabelle administered the shot - which was to expected since 99.9% of children on the planet absolutely hate needles.

"You're hot," Annabelle heard from a few feet away, and glanced over, only to see Izzie finishing up a suture on a man's wrist. He was around the age of early 30's, and was average in his looks with his plain dark eyes and hair.

"You're drunk, hold still," Izzie simply ordered.

"Alright," Annabelle smiled, putting away the suture kit and giving the little girl a comforting smile. "All done,"

"Thank you," Layla's mother said gratefully, and Annabelle smiled at her as she stood up.

"No problem. Now, all you need to do is see the nurse outside and sign a form or two, and you're free to go," she said, and the mother nodded before picking up her daughter and heading over to the nurses' desk as Annabelle heard Izzie's patient speak up again.

"Wait, you're that... that girl from the... magazine. The r-red bikini," he grinned drunkenly as Annabelle walked over to the closest nurse.

"Bed 4 is free," she said, and the nurse nodded before going to back to work as Annabelle headed over to Izzie.

"Yeah, it was pink," the blonde doctor said in response to her patient, "I'm done, you can see the nurse outside now," she said, just as Annabelle stopped beside her, about to ask if there is any chance they could have a five minute break, only to be stopped by Mrs. Lu, who walked up to the two doctors and began speaking in Chinese once again.

"Is she crazy or something?" Izzie's drunk patient whispered, and Annabelle sighed in annoyance as Izzie tried not to roll her eyes.

"No, I don't think so," she said as politely as she could while she put a hand on his shoulder, steering him away from Mrs. Lu as Annabelle walked over to the Asian woman.

"Please. _Please_ sit down," she pleaded, gesturing to the bed next to them, "I really need to look at your arm," she said, silently sighing in relief as Mrs. Lu followed the instructions. "Thank you,"

* * *

Only ten minutes later, Annabelle was all done with Mrs. Lu's arm, just as Izzie came over.

"Hey, you feel like taking a small break?" she asked, and Annabelle sighed in relief.

"Yes, please," she said, before standing up and helping Mrs. Lu do the same as the woman started speaking in Chinese again, "Look, I'm really sorry but I don't have time. We have patients lined up and I just don't understand you, I-I'm sorry," she said, and simply nodded with a small, remorseful smile as Mrs. Lu said something in Chinese one last time before turning around, "Ugh, I hate sending them away like that," Annabelle said to Izzie quietly as they both watched Mrs. Lu leave with a disappointed look on her face.

"Yeah," Izzie sighed. "Me, too,"

"Okay, let's go take that break," Annabelle said after a few more seconds of silence, and Izzie nodded in agreement before they both headed down to one of the corridors in the basement floor of the hospital, the same place where they sat on their first night.

As they arrived, though not before getting themselves cups of coffee, they saw Alex and Cristina sitting on the beds by the wall and George standing by the vending machine.

"We've been suturing all day," Annabelle sighed in exhaustion before nearly collapsing on the bed beside Alex, too tired to care whom she was sitting next to. "My hands are numb,"

"At least you're helping people," George spoke up as Izzie followed Annabelle's lead, throwing herself on the bed next to Cristina, leaning tiredly against the wall.

"At least you get to practice freaking medicine," Alex said.

"We had to send the Chinese lady away," Izzie said as Cristina yawned.

"She was pretty much camped out down there," Annabelle added, her voice still holding the sadness about having to send a distraught patient away, just as Meredith arrived, still carrying the cooler with the severed penis.

"Oh, poor Izzie, poor Annabelle, turning away patients, boohoo," Cristina mocked making Annabelle give her an annoyed look.

"We're doctors. We're supposed to be _helping_ people," she said, "You do know what 'helping' means, right?" she added, unable to help herself, making Cristina give her a sour look, to which she shrugged innocently.

"So the police say they can't send a crime-scene guy down for hours," Meredith spoke up as she threw herself on the bed in between Annabelle and Cristina, pushing her sister a bit closer to Alex, to which the young man grinned suggestively while Annabelle threw him a disgusted look before pushing him away, "So I have to spend the night with the penis," Meredith finished, and Alex raised his eyebrows before leaning over Annabelle to look at the blonde. "Alex, don't say it,"

"Oh, it was too easy, anyway," he said, just as George threw himself on the bed beside Izzie with a sigh.

"Who here feels like they have no idea what they're doing?" he asked loudly and raised his hand, Izzie, Cristina, Meredith, and Annabelle all quickly following. "I mean, are we supposed to be learning something? Because I don't feel like I'm learning anything!"

"Except how not to sleep," Izzie said.

"It's like there's this wall," Cristina spoke up. "The attendings and the residents are over there, being surgeons, and we're over here, being..."

"Suturing, code-running, lab-delivering penis minders," Annabelle and Meredith said at the same time, not paying attention to their colleagues' weird looks. Over the years, they have often said the same thing at the same time, though most people thought it was quite normal after learning that they are twins.

"I hate being an intern," Alex finally said after he and the other interns stopped staring at the two sisters.

Annabelle sighed tiredly as she leaned her head back against the wall, while Alex shifted around so that he could lay down fully, his head ending up on Annabelle's lap.

"Seriously?" the brunette looked down at him, not at all amused.

"Oh, get over it, I'm tired," Alex grumbled, and Annabelle sighed but didn't say anything as she leaned her head back against the wall again, just as Dr. Bailey came into sight. She was walking toward them, but as soon as she saw them sitting - or, in Alex's case, lying down - on the beds, she stopped and raised her eyebrows. After receiving no response, she spread her arms out in a 'what the hell do you think you're doing' gesture, and the interns all quickly scrambled off the beds, Annabelle pushing Alex off of her and almost making him topple down to the floor making him throw her a glare, before running off to their assigned posts once again.

* * *

"Anybody else?" Annabelle asked the nurse at the desk in the pit after sighing tiredly, massaging her neck as she and Izzie walked up to the woman.

"No. No more," the nurse replied, and Izzie sighed tiredly in relief.

"I need a bed," she moaned, and Annabelle just shook her head.

"Sing it, sister," she said and they both prepared to finally leave, only to freeze in their tracks as they both caught sight of the all-too-familiar woman.

"Ms. Lu?" they both called out, their brows furrowing in confusion as they watched the woman walk through the hallways, glancing at them every few seconds before finally heading outside. Annabelle looked over at Izzie with a confused look on her face, and the blonde returned the look before they both quickly walked through the room, following the Asian woman.

"Ms. Lu!" Annabelle called out as she and Izzie stepped outside and saw the woman running off towards the parking lot despite the darkness and the heavy rain.

"Ms. Lu, wait! Ms. Lu!" Izzie called out this time as she and Annabelle both stood under the roof in order to shield themselves from the rain.

"What is it?!" Annabelle called out as she saw the older woman gesturing for them to follow her before running off, and the two doctors shared a look before taking a breath and running after her, wrapping their lab coats around themselves tightly to shield themselves from the rain at least the tiniest bit.

As they followed the woman, Izzie and Annabelle realized that it wasn't the parking lot she was running towards but rather the space full of trashcans next to the parking lot. Once they caught up with Mrs. Lu, their brows furrowed in confusion as they saw her talking to someone, though they couldn't see who because the person was holding a cloth to their face.

"Hello?" Izzie called out quietly, confusion lacing her voice as Mrs. Lu turned around to look at the two young women before stepping to the side. The person then removed the cloth from their face, only to reveal themselves to be a young Asian woman with a big, deep, bleeding cut on her forehead.

"Oh, my God," Annabelle and Izzie both breathed out, before rushing forward to kneel in front of the girl.

"It's okay. It's okay," Annabelle assured as she looked at the girl before turning to look at Mrs. Lu, finally realizing what the woman was trying to tell them all this time. "We'll help,"

"Can you look over here?" Izzie asked, holding out her finger and taking out her flashlight out of her pocket while Annabelle moved to examine the wound.

"It's deep," Annabelle informed her colleague as the blonde swiftly completed the neuro exam, "It's deep, so I need to clean it out, okay?" Annabelle spoke up again, trying to gesture the meaning of her words with her hands as she looked at the two Asian women, glancing at Izzie briefly and sighing in relief inaudibly when she nodded, letting her know that they neuro exam was good.

"Machine, it broke in the factory," the young Asian woman suddenly spoke up, her voice heavy with accent but understandable. "It fall,"

"You speak English," Annabelle nodded with a relieved smile.

"Okay, if you could come inside," Izzie spoke up, grabbing the girls arm as she and Annabelle both stood up.

"No, no, no inside. No, no, no jail," the girl protested as the older woman wrapped her arms around her protectively.

"Jail?" Annabelle repeated, confused.

"She came inside," Izzie pointed out, also confused, gesturing to the older woman.

"No, no, she green card. Me, no," the girl said.

"You're illegal," Annabelle realized, and shared a quick look with Izzie.

"That's okay, we don't have to tell them that," the blonde assured. "W-We just need to get you inside, we have to sew that up,"

"No, no inside!" the girl shook her head. "No inside,"

"Please, I promise, I promise you won't go to jail," Izzie pleaded before grabbing the girl's arm as she and Annabelle stood up again, "Just-it's raining, please come inside," she said, pulling the girl to her feet, only for the older woman to wrap her arms around her protectively again as the two protested in Chinese, both on the verge of panic.

"Okay, okay!" Annabelle stepped in, raising her hands to show them that she means no harm as Izzie did the same thing.

"Okay. Not inside," she said, and the two Asian women slumped to the ground again as she and Annabelle looked at each other helplessly.

"You go," Annabelle said after a few seconds, and Izzie nodded. "I'll stay here with them,"

"Wait here. Okay?" the blonde woman turned to Mrs. Lu and the young woman, "Wait with Dr. Grey, I'll come back. I'll be back," she said, before quickly running back to the hospital, while Annabelle crouched in front of the two Asian women.

"It's okay. She'll be right back and then we'll fix you up, okay?" she assured with what she hoped was a comforting smile, and the young girl nodded hesitantly.

* * *

Once Izzie came back with the needed supplies, she swiftly cleaned out the girl's wound and numbed her forehead before stepping off to the side and letting Annabelle sew the gash up.

"Alright. You're all sewn up," Annabelle offered the women a small smile as Izzie moved back to crouch before them again, cleaning the wound one more time, trying to get rid of all the blood on her forehead and mostly succeeding. As soon as she finished, Annabelle quickly placed some gauze over the wound and she and Izzie taped it to her forehead, "That's pretty good. We could have done a lot better with some light but..." she trailed off as she and Izzie both took off their gloves, "You may have a scar," the brunette informed, but the young girl only smiled and nodded.

"It's good," she said.

"You're gonna need to come back," Annabelle said. "In five days. Okay?"

"One of us is gonna need to check the wound and remove the stitches," Izzie informed, and the girl nodded in understanding.

"Alright, this..." Annabelle took a small card out of her pocket and pointed to a number printed on it. "Is my pager number. Right here. Okay? We'll meet right back here, okay?" she said as she and Izzie both helped them up to their feet. "You _have_ to come back,"

"But you can't tell anybody that we helped you outside the hospital or we might lose our jobs," Izzie said, and Annabelle nodded, mentally slapping herself for almost completely forgetting about that very important small detail. "Understand?"

"Yes. Come back and don't tell," the young girl repeated, and the doctors nodded with smiles on their faces.

"Exactly," Annabelle smiled.

"Okay. That's it, we're done. You can go," Izzie smiled. "We'll see you in five days,"

"Yes, see you," the girl said, before she and Mrs. Lu walked away, leaving the two doctors to stare after them with small smiles on their faces before Mrs. Lu turned back and started speaking in Chinese again, shaking both of their hands with a grateful smile on her face.

"Thank you," Izzie smiled before she and Annabelle watched the two walk away again, the young girl waving with a small smile, "So this is what it's really about, huh?" Izzie suddenly spoke up after a minute of silence, and Annabelle glanced at her before going back to staring after the two women again.

"Yeah, I guess so," she breathed out, the smile on her lips growing the tiniest bit.

* * *

"I need a drink, a man, or a massage," Cristina spoke up from where she was lying on a bench in the locker room. George was currently brushing his teeth and Izzie was asleep on one of the benches.

"Or a massage by a hot, drunken man," Annabelle spoke up from her place on the floor where she was leaning against the lockers, her voice tired as Cristina hummed in agreement while putting on her scrub top again.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked after a few seconds, catching George's eyes in the mirror.

"I lost five patients on the code team today," he replied. "I feel like the angel of death,"

"George, 95% of code patients can't be revived," Annabelle spoke up, hoisting herself up on her feet with the help of the lockers while George turned to look at her with wide eyes before looking at Cristina.

"Why didn't you tell me that when I was going on and on about how great it was gonna be?" he asked, accusation clear in his eyes and tone, and Cristina closed her locker before turning to look at him.

"Because... you're George, and I'm Cristina,"

* * *

"How is she?" Meredith asked as she walked up to Derek, who was sitting on a chair in front of the room, looking at the rape victim.

"No change," Derek replied grimly.

"Have you been here all night?" Meredith asked, half curiously and half disbelievingly.

"Mm-hmm... Yep. You know, I have four sisters? Very girly, tons of kids. If I was in a coma, the'd all be here. I'd want them here. Not having no one? Can't imagine that," Derek said as Meredith continued to look at the patient.

"I can," she said, half in a daze.

"What are you talking about? What about your mother?" Derek asked, confused. "She'd be here ordering all the surgeons around. She'd fly these cowboys in from Prague to do these amazing medical procedures.

"That's true," Meredith finally nodded. "I do have my mother,"

"And what about your sister? Annabelle?"

"Yeah, I do have her, too," Meredith nodded. "Except she's my little sister. Sure, there's only like a five minute difference between us but... she was always my responsibility. It was always my job to look after her, to take care of her. I don't think I could suddenly turn everything around and just demand for her to look after _me_ ,"

"You and Annabelle are twins?" Derek asked, deciding to not say anything else about what she revealed about her life and just go for the easy and light questions.

"Yeah," Meredith sighed, nodding with a small smile.

* * *

 _At one point, you have to make a decision. Boundaries don't keep other people out. They fence you in. Life is messy. That's how we're made._

Annabelle, Meredith, George, Izzie, and Cristina were all standing on the peds floor, watching the baby whose life Meredith saved. The said Grey then looked over at her sister, who nodded.

"Okay, fine," she spoke up. "George and Izzie, you can move into the house,"

"Yes!" George yelled nearly jumping up and down. "Yes!"

"I can't believe you caved!" Izzie squealed as George hugged Meredith and Annabelle tightly, nearly squishing them.

"Thank you," he said, before turning around and fist pumping in the air. "Yes!"

"I can't believe I caved," Meredith said more to herself than others as Izzie and George danced down the hallway.

"I blame the babies. They make you toxic," Cristina said.

 _So, you can waste your life drawing lines... or you can live your life crossing them. Here's what I know. If you're willing to take the chance... the view from the other side... is spectacular._

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ Hope you all liked reading the chapter as much as I did writing it! It was really interesting writing Meredith and Annabelle's relationship and the relationship Annabelle has with their mother. Next chapter onwards we'll get to some actual relationship-developing with one character in particular, starting with _Winning a Battle, Losing the War._ I want to take season 1 to establish Annabelle's relationship with everyone at Seattle Grace. I hope you liked the little insight on Meredith and Annabelle's childhood.

I used this chapter to show that Annabelle won't always just be a part of everything that Meredith does. The only reason I did that in the last chapter was because that was the first episode and Meredith is the main character of the show, and the only way for us to meet everyone was through Meredith, and I especially needed Annabelle to meet Alex sooner rather than later. What's amazing about Grey's is that every character has an individual story, and I can put Annabelle anywhere, not just where Meredith is.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to review!


	3. Winning a Battle, Losing the War

**_Disclaimer:_** _I don't own Grey's Anatomy in any shape or form. But I do own my OC._

 ** _A/N:_** _This chapter will follow 1x03 (Winning a Battle, Losing the War) and will establish Annabelle's presence in the hospital and how she interacts with the other characters like patients, Izzie, George, Cristina, and some more interactions between Alex, Meredith and Annabelle._

 ** _Reviews:_**

RHatch89: Thank you!

siriuslylovehp: Thank you! I'm glad you like it!

dbzamywinxchic: Thank you! Yeah, I honestly don't understand why so many people immediately assumed that this is a Derek/OC and so on. And yeah, the relationship between Annabelle and Alex is definitely going to be interesting (sorry, I'm not giving anything away) ;) There's definitely more of it in this chapter!

Jackie: Thank you! I'm glad you like it! There's definitely more of it in this chapter :)

 **Operations. Temptations. Frustrations.**

 **Chapter 3**

 **Winning a Battle, Losing the War**

 _We live out our lives on the surgical unit. Seven days a week, fourteen hours a day. We're together more than we're apart._

It was a calm, quiet night in Meredith and Annabelle's house as the raindrops hit against their windows. Or at least it _was_ calm and quiet until Annabelle shifted in her bed to turn on her back, only to sit up with a scream as she opened her eyes the tiniest bit and was greeted with George's face.

"Izzie is trying to steal my room," he said as almost innocently, and that innocence was the only thing stopping Annabelle from killing him right there and then as she looked over at the clock and saw that it was only 4:40am.

"You have got to be kidding me," was all she could mutter as she threw the covers off herself and got out of bed, just barely stopping herself from falling as her foot got tangled in the sheets.

 _After a while..._

"Well, his room is bigger than mine!" Izzie said as soon as Annabelle exited her room, George trailing after her like a puppy. "I have more clothes - I should have the bigger room,"

 _The ways of residency..._

"I got here first," George protested as Annabelle made her way towards the stairs.

"It's Meredith and Annabelle's house, they should decide," Izzie said, following Annabelle closely, and George quickly ran to catch up with them.

 _Become the ways of life._

"My room is, like, two inches bigger than yours!"

 _Number one..._

"You have the bigger closet,"

"So what? Why is everything always a competition?" Annabelle closed her eyes and tried to block out the arguing that was coming from behind her as she made her way downstairs, quickly heading towards the storage/laundry room. She was already feeling the cool air on her arms, seeing as her pajamas consisted of long, loose, light pink pants and a gray tank top, and she was not liking the cold at all.

 _Always keep score. Number two - do whatever you can to outsmart the other guy._

"You can put your clothes anywhere else!"

"Everywhere else is filled with Meredith and Annabelle's mom's boxes,"

"Annabelle? When is your mom coming back to town, anyway?" George asked as Annabelle quickly grabbed the first blanket she saw and started making her way back upstairs. "Because maybe we can put her boxes in storage,"

"Or unpack a few things - make this place a little more homey," Izzie suggested. "Some throw pillows, some lamps, a few paintings..."

"Oh, paintings would be nice," George said as he and Izzie followed Annabelle upstairs like two puppies oblivious to their owner's annoyance.

"Yeah. You have all this amazing stuff just packed away. In the back closet, I found this box with like 100 tapes of your mother performing these amazing medical procedures,"

"Really? We should watch them. Annabelle, do you want to watch-" George was cut off by the bathroom door shutting in his face.

Annabelle finally released a breath as she closed the bathroom door, before turning around, her eyes widening just a bit when she saw her sister sitting on the floor, leaning against the bathtub.

"Yeah, I looked like that too a few minutes ago," Meredith said as she saw Annabelle's annoyed and tired expression, "Tea?" she offered, and Annabelle gingerly took the cup, nearly collapsing on the floor and putting her head in Meredith's lap.

"Why did we invite them here again?" she asked after taking a sip of the tea, and Meredith shrugged before taking the cup back.

"Because we're stupid and we take in strays,"

 _Number three - don't make friends with the enemy._

* * *

"Fools on bikes killing themselves - natural selection is what it is," Dr. Bailey grumbled for about the tenth time as she led her interns down the hallway while they all tried to wake up. Or, rather, Alex tried to wake up seeing as Meredith, Annabelle, George, and Izzie were all wide awake two hours before and Cristina was always alert.

"So what's up with the Nazi, is she off her meds?" Alex asked, glancing at Annabelle after looking at their resident weirdly, but the brunette didn't have time to answer as George turned around to look at Alex confusedly.

"You never heard of the race?"

"Chief," Dr. Bailey called as she stopped for a few seconds, her head turned in the direction where the chief, Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Burke were standing in front of the O.R. board. "'Dead Baby' bike race started 20 minutes ago,"

"Alright, people! Dead Baby Bike Race day!" Chief Webber called out loudly, and Annabelle could see multiple nurses sighing and multiple doctors' eyes light up.

"Every year, this bar-"

"The Dead Baby bar," Meredith cut in as George began to explain the race once they got off the elevator and arrived at the entrance of the E.R.

"Every year, they hold this underground bike race," George continued as he and the other interns all took off their lab coats.

"Don't you wonder why someone would name a bar something so disgusting?" Izzie spoke up, and Annabelle simply shrugged. She was too tired to care about that stupid bar's name.

"Keep your panties on, Nancy Drew," Cristina laughed as Alex started passing them all trauma gowns.

"The race is completely illegal and-"

"Crazy," Annabelle cut in, "And stupid," she said as she started putting on the gown Alex passed her. "Freaking bike messengers racing against traffic trying to beat each other for free shots of tequila,"

"And why are you so grumpy?" Alex asked, looking at her weirdly. He knew the brunette wasn't a ray of sunshine but he hasn't seen her so grumpy and annoyed yet.

"I took in strays," was all Annabelle said as she began to tie the gown around her waist while everyone else put theirs on.

"All-outs, no-holds-barred competition sounds like fun," Alex finally spoke up again after shooting Annabelle another weird look.

"Yeah, you would think that," she scoffed, and he shot her a look before helping her tie the gown strings at the back of her neck.

"The race, the race doesn't even have any rules - except eye-gouging - no eye-gouging," George said, gesturing with his fingers funnily making Izzie laugh.

"We're gonna be trapped in the pit, band-aiding idiots when we could be up in the O.R.," Cristina grumbled.

"What kind of people engage in a race that has, as its only rule, that you can't rip out the eyeballs of another human being?" George asked incredulously as he tied Izzie's gown strings at the back of her neck and started tying Alex's.

"Men, Georgie, men," Alex said, making Izzie laugh and Annabelle chuckle as George threw his gown down.

"I need someone to get up to the O.R. floor, the chief needs a right hand," Dr. Bailey said and everyone's hands except Annabelle and Meredith's shot up in the air. Annabelle had no idea why her sister didn't want to go into an O.R., but she knew for a fact that _she_ was too tired and off her game to be able to do anything in an O.R. today. Though maybe she would get lucky and an O.R.-emergent patient would come up in the pit.

 _Oh, and yeah, number four..._

"George," Dr. Bailey finally chose after sighing at her interns.

 _Everything is a competition._

"Okay, people, the rules of trauma," Dr. Bailey spoke up again as Annabelle sighed shortly and started tying the gown strings at the back of Alex's neck, seeing the man struggle, "Don't mingle with the E.R. interns - they don't know their ass from their esophagus. Sew fast, discharge faster, get bodies up to the O.R. yesterday and don't let me catch you fighting over patients, got it? Come on, let's go," she finished, turning around to head into the E.R., and Cristina, Alex and Izzie all tried to shove each other aside to get into the room as fast as possible.

"Oh," Cristina gaped at the patients being rolled in on gurneys. "It's like candy. But with blood, which is so much better!"

"Oh, my God," Izzie stared at a man bandaged almost completely and already intubated.

"Uh, mine!" Cristina quickly leaped forward.

"No! I saw him first!" Izzie exclaimed, running after her.

 _Whoever said winning wasn't everything..._

"Ooh. I'll take that guy," Annabelle said as she saw a very handsome man around her age sitting on one of the beds, multiple long nails sticking out of his abdomen.

"You'll have to beat me to him first," Alex said before preparing to walk up to the patient, and Annabelle quickly jogged to catch up with him, while Meredith used their distraction to walk over to a man whose hand was nearly impaled on a metal rod.

 _Never held a scalpel._

"Heads - he's mine, tails - he's yours," Alex suggested as he pulled out a coin from his pocket.

"Why do you get to be 'heads'?" Annabelle asked.

"Oh, because I have a head, and honey, you _are_ a tail," Alex replied, and Annabelle glared at him before looking over at their patient with a fake smile.

"Excuse me," was all she said before pulling the curtain so that he would stop looking at them, amused, "How on earth do you manage to make everything dirty?" she asked, and Alex simply shrugged before flipping the coin. "Ha! Tails! There are plenty of other cases,"

"So go get one. I was here first,"

"I am not going to sit around doing sutures all day while you get to be in the O.R. You saw how pissed off I am already. You really want to make it worse? 'Cause you currently are,"

"It's _superficial_. I mean, it's cool, but it's superficial," Alex said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, yeah? How do you know those things didn't rupture his peritoneum?"

"Because he's sitting up and he's sitting there talking to us!" Alex said in annoyance, and Annabelle opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the patient sliding the curtain off to the side and giving them a smile.

"Hello. Excuse me, I-I was wondering if you could take these out and sew me up so I could go and win my race," he said in a British accent, looking mainly at Annabelle and offering her a charming smile.

"Well, we can't just-" Annabelle began, but was interrupted by Alex's grunt as he pulled one of the nails out. "Pull them out,"

"Oh, wicked," Alex stared at the nails in his hand.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Annabelle hissed as he continued to pull the nails out of the patient.

"It's a superficial wound. Sew him up and let him finish his race," Alex said, handing Annabelle the nails and walking off in search of better cases.

"Hey, good man!" the patient called after him, and Annabelle glanced between both of them like they were crazy. Which, judging by their reaction to this stupid race, they most likely were.

* * *

"Ahh, you got a nice touch," the patient remarked with a charming and flirtatious smirk as Annabelle sewed his wound up as gently as she could. "And, by the way, you are a rocking babe,"

"Okay, seriously," Annabelle looked up at him, unable to keep the smile from making itself onto her lips. She hated to admit it but she was genuinely enjoying this man's flirtatious side - not that she wasn't sure this side was his _only_ side. "Do you honestly think you have a shot here?"

"I like to think I've got a shot anywhere," he smirked.

"Ah," Annabelle nodded with a smile, before returning to the sutures. She was always a sucker for bad boys. "Look, you really have to let me take you for some tests, run a C.T. You could have internal bleeding,"

"No, thank you, I've got a race to get back to," the man replied as Annabelle started patching the now completely sewed up wound.

"What's the point? It's not like you can win now, anyway,"

"Doesn't mean I can't cross that finish line," he said, "There's a party at the finish line. Do you want to meet me there?" he leaned his head down to whisper the last part in his doctor's ear, making her look up at him, her brows raised.

"One test," she pressed again. "A C.T. I'll have you out of here in an hour,"

"I can't do it, got to go," he said as Annabelle made sure the bandage was taped firmly to his skin, protecting the freshly sewed up wound.

"Okay, fine. But you do realize that you're leaving against medical advice and that I strongly urge you to stay?"

"The frat guy said I could go," the man pointed out.

"The 'frat guy' is an idiot. And an ass," Annabelle retorted, making him chuckle as his eyes traveled down to her lips once again. "Okay. Well, you have to sign an A.M.A. form,"

"Darling," the man started as he sat up while Annabelle stood up and grabbed one of the forms lying on the table beside her, "I will do anything you want me to," he said in a husky voice, making Annabelle look up at him.

"What is it... with you guys, and your need to dirty everything up?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's just testosterone, eh?"

"Maybe," Annabelle nodded, "You may want to see a doctor about that, too," she said, passing him the form and a pen as he grinned, clearly enjoying her spunk. He then quickly signed the form, before getting off the bed and putting it on the table beside her, and proceeding to walk out of the E.R. However, he only made it three steps before he turned around and grabbed Annabelle around the waist, pressing his lips to hers.

Too shocked to do anything, Annabelle simply stood there, with her hands on his shoulders and her eyes wide open as her patient kissed her before he finally pulled away.

"That was for good luck," he gave her one more charming smirk, before proceeding to leave, halting in the doorway for five seconds to turn his head and look at her one last time. "Don't worry, darling, you'll see me again," was all he said, before walking out the door.

"Okay," Annabelle whispered to herself as she struggled not to laugh, straightening her back and letting her arms fall to her sides as she turned around, only to stop in her tracks as she saw her sister watching her, hands on her hips. "What?"

"You're kissing patients now?" Meredith asked with raised eyebrows, and Annabelle didn't even have time to respond before Derek appeared in the door right behind Meredith.

"Who's kissing patients now?" he asked.

"No one," Annabelle answered, shooting her sister a look that silently told her to shut up. The last thing she needed was her attendings thinking that she was a slut.

"What?" she heard Meredith ask and turned around again, only to see Derek staring at her sister. "Look, we had sex - once,"

"And we kissed in an elevator," Derek added, and Annabelle nearly dropped the suturing instrument she just picked up off the table.

"You kissed in an elevator?" she repeated, and Meredith turned around briefly to shoot her a glare before turning back to Derek, who nodded with a smirk.

"And we kissed in an elevator - once," she said, before turning around to fill out one of her patient's chart.

"No, seriously. No, come on, go out with me," Annabelle heard, and subtly glanced up, only to see Derek staring at her sister.

"No," Meredith said firmly.

"You know, I almost died today," Derek spoke up again, and this time, both Grey sisters turned to look at him, "Yeah, I came like this close," he held up his hands, keeping them only a few inches apart. "How would you feel if I died, and you didn't get a chance to go out with _me_?"

"Yeah, Mer. How _would_ you feel?" Annabelle asked with a sly smirk as she walked past them, earning a smug look from Derek and another glare from her sister, before chuckling as she walked out of the room and into the pit, deciding to give them some privacy.

"Get over yourself already," was the last thing she heard her sister say as she walked away, chuckling under her breath.

* * *

"I'm just saying, you _could_ give it a shot," Annabelle said as she and Meredith walked side by side down the hallway, both filling out charts but glancing up occasionally to make sure not to walk into someone or something.

"No," Meredith repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"Why not?" Annabelle asked, and Meredith simply looked at her. "No, I'm serious! He's charming, he's funny, he's _hot_. He's McDreamy,"

"McDreamy? Seriously?"

"Hey, it fits," Annabelle shrugged with a small smirk, just as Izzie suddenly ran out of the room they were walking past.

"Meredith, Annabelle!"

"What?" they both asked, jumping into alarm mode as they saw the look on her face.

"He's crashing," Izzie said as she lead them into the room where a man was lying on the bed, hooked up to multiple machines, one of which was a ventilator.

"Well, what the hell are you doing? Call a code!" Annabelle said as she threw her charts down on the closest table, Meredith copying her actions as the brunette pulled her stethoscope off her neck and ran over to the patient.

"I can't - I'm not supposed to, he's brain-dead," Izzie said as she tried to adjust some of the machines to administer the drugs that would stop him from crashing.

"Well, if he's brain-dead, you have to let him go," Annabelle said as Meredith slowed her movements.

"No!" Izzie immediately shook her head. "It's only been 5 hours and 33 minutes, he's supposed to get six hours,"

"Well, we can't do anything to help him live, it's not our place to make that call," Meredith said as she picked up her charts again.

"He's a person," Izzie said, "We're _doctors_. We should have every _right_ to make that call. We can't just stand here and do nothing while he dies. He has a right to the next 27 minutes," she insisted, and Annabelle closed her eyes briefly as she sighed. She agreed with Izzie wholeheartedly, and her hands were aching to do _something_ to help that man, but she knew very well that if they did anything against protocol, they could all lose their jobs and their careers would be over before they even begun.

"Screw it," she finally said, and looked over at Meredith, who glanced at the dying man and stared at him for a few seconds before looking up and nodding. She was in. They were all in.

"Okay, I'll get the dopamine, you get the blood. We'll transfuse him," Meredith said, and Izzie nodded thankfully before running out of the room, Annabelle close on her heels.

* * *

"He's stable," Meredith called up to Cristina as she walked upstairs alongside Annabelle and Izzie, the Asian woman meeting them halfway in the stairwell.

"For now," Cristina said. "I had a radiologist look at his chest films, he has a traumatic aortic injury. It's gonna rupture and bleed out,"

"So he needs surgery," Annabelle nodded as Cristina leaned against the wall.

"If he's gonna remain a viable organ donor, yeah," she nodded.

"If he's gonna live," Izzie corrected, moving to walk upstairs.

"Izzie-"

"No! I'm not giving up on him," Izzie cut Cristina and Annabelle off angrily. "He has the surgery - he lives longer, that's the point. So I'm gonna help find the family, you guys find a way to get him into surgery,"

"Well, I have to get back to the E.R.!" Annabelle called after her, and the blonde only turned her head to glance at her.

"Well, make some time for _this_!" was all she said, before disappearing behind the door as Annabelle sighed.

"She's vice-president of Fantasyland," Cristina shook her head, and Annabelle couldn't help but agree. Yes, she wanted to help, but her focus was on the _organs_. She knew what the chances of that man waking up were, and she was not the kind of person to have false hope. She was disappointed way too many times in the past to still have the ability to have false hope.

"So, who do we go to for the surgery - Bailey?" Meredith spoke up.

"No, we need to go higher than Bailey," Cristina said, before jogging up the stairs, Meredith and Annabelle sharing a look before following.

* * *

"Dr. Burke," Meredith called as she opened the door to the men's bathroom and stuck her head inside, only to freeze as she saw the Chief of Cardio peeing, though she - thankfully - could not see his body from waist down as he stood behind a stall wall.

"Hello?!" the man called out in annoyance, looking up at her in disbelief.

"Okay," Meredith nodded, quickly closing the door behind her and then closing her eyes briefly, just as Cristina moved past her to open the door again.

"Dr. Burke, um, I know you're busy, but our John Doe needs an aortic repair," she said.

"The guy from this morning?" Annabelle and Meredith heard Dr. Burke ask. "Isn't he legally dead?"

"Well... yeah - he's kinda still around. We gave him two units P.R.V.C.s and put him on pressors,"

"On whose orders?" Dr. Burke asked, and Cristina froze before moving out of the doorway and closing the door behind her. The three young women looked at each other in slight panic, before Annabelle finally sighed.

"Oh, screw it," she hissed under her breath, before moving to open the door before her sister could stop her, "Mine," she said, and Dr. Burke turned around to look at the three of them from where he was now standing beside the sink, washing his hands.

"You get a brain-dead John Doe a blood transfusion without consulting anyone. And now you want me to repair his heart?" he asked in disbelief as he got himself some paper towel to dry his hands.

"Well, yes," Cristina said.

"You do enjoy crossing the line, don't you?" Dr. Burke asked rhetorically, glancing between the three women.

"He is an excellent candidate for organ donation," Meredith spoke up.

"I am a surgeon, I save lives. This guy is already dead," Dr. Burke stated, "Now, this is the men's room. Either whip one out or close the door," he said, and the three interns glanced at each other before quickly moving out of the room and closing the door.

* * *

"You think he'll help?" Izzie asked nervously as she, Annabelle and Cristina watched Meredith speak to Derek. After their failed attempt to get Dr. Burke on board with their John Doe situation, they decided to use Derek's clear affection for the blonde Grey to their advantage.

"Oh, trust me. He will," Annabelle said as she kept her eyes on her sister and the handsome neurosurgeon.

"Here she comes," Cristina murmured as Meredith finally finished her conversation with Derek and started heading back toward them. "So?"

"Well, he said there's not much he can do," Meredith answered, and Izzie sighed dejectedly, " _But_ there is something _we_ can do,"

"And that would be...?" Annabelle trailed off.

"Derek said that we need to find a way to get close to the chief," Meredith said, making Izzie sigh again.

"And how are we supposed to do that?" she asked exasperatedly, and three other women all frowned in thought, before Cristina's eyes lit up in realization.

"George,"

* * *

"What'd I do?" George asked, freezing with his sandwich halfway up to his mouth as his three roommates and Cristina all stood in front of him, their arms crossed over their chests as they stared at him.

"How close a match for the liver is your patient to our John Doe?" Meredith asked.

"Very. Same type, same size, U.N.O.S. couldn't find a better match, why?" he replied, making Annabelle and Cristina both smirk in triumph.

"He's the chief's V.I.P., right?" Annabelle asked.

"Right," George answered, his brows furrowing in confusion as he stared at the four women in front of him.

"How much would you kill to be in on a transplant surgery?" Cristina spoke up, the corners of her lips tugging up in a smirk.

"You underestimate me," George said. "I'm not a baby. I'm your colleague. You don't have to manipulate me, if you want something, all you have to do is ask,"

"We want you to go over Burke's head to the chief," Izzie said.

"Ask me something easier,"

* * *

"We are so going to hell," Annabelle mumbled as she, Izzie, Meredith and Cristina watched George speak to the chief, standing only a few feet away from them.

"Burke is sending us straight to hell," Meredith nodded in agreement.

"On an express train," Cristina added.

"If it works," Izzie nodded, looking at their fellow intern and the chief hopefully.

"What are you doing?" Alex suddenly came up from behind them in his scrub cap, looking ready to go into surgery any minute and halting beside Annabelle.

"Nothing," the four young women all replied in unison, making him look at them strangely before following their gazes, only to see Chief Webber stopping Dr. Burke as he made to walk past him and George, and speaking indistinctly to him.

"Yes!" Izzie squealed in a whisper, grinning. She then laughed quietly in delight as the other three women smiled when they saw George straighten up before quickly walking away as Dr. Burke looked at him. However, their grins were quickly wiped off once the chief walked away, and Dr. Burke turned his head to look at them instead.

"Oh, crap," Annabelle muttered, and they all quickly turned around and headed in the opposite direction, leaving Alex to simply stare after them, confused.

* * *

Meredith, Annabelle, George, Cristina and Izzie all sat in the gallery, watching Dr. Burke operate on John Doe's heart, with Alex out of all people beside him.

"I seriously hate that guy," Cristina said as they watched Alex nearly kiss Burke's ass in the O.R.

"Alex is vermin," Meredith agreed. "That surgery is ours,"

"At least Burke is doing the surgery. I don't care about Alex," Izzie said, looking down at the surgeons in the O.R.

"George... you did good," Annabelle turned her head to look at her colleague, smiling sweetly at him.

"I'm gonna have to dodge Burke for the rest of my career," was all he could mutter as she stared down at the Chief of Cardio, "He could kill me and make it look like an accident," he whispered to the Grey sisters, making them both chuckle quietly as Annabelle patted his shoulder reassuringly, just a nurse came into the gallery.

"The police called," she notified, "They've identified your John Doe, his wife is on the way," she said, and Cristina and Izzie quickly stood up before running out of the gallery.

* * *

"Oh, this one is skin grafting!" was the first thing Annabelle heard once she entered her house, rubbing her forehead tiredly and sighing once she heard Izzie's voice. She truly did not want to deal with her roommates after the day she had.

"Skin grafting? No way! I've never seen that done before," came George's excited voice, and her brows furrowed in confusion before she slowly made her way into the living room, only to freeze once she saw her colleagues sitting on the floor, multiple of her mom's boxes around them, _open_.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Annabelle asked as she stared at the tapes in their hands with wide eyes. _Oh, dear... Meredith is not going to like this,_ she thought, knowing very well what a foul mood her sister was in having spent an entire car ride with her.

"Are those our mother's surgical tapes?" she suddenly heard Meredith's voice behind her and turned around, realizing that she must have missed the sound of the door opening.

"We should watch the skin grafting one first," George said, oblivious to the looks on the sisters' faces.

"Where did all this stuff come from?" Meredith asked as she made her way further into the living room, while Annabelle simply leaned against the wall tiredly, closing her eyes briefly. She was seriously starting to regret letting Izzie and George move in.

"Oh, I unpacked some of your mother's things," Izzie replied, glancing at the dozen - or maybe even more - boxes around them, "I was upset. And when I'm upset, I like to nest," she said, before glancing down at the tape in her hand as Meredith started picking up the multiple tapes sprawled across the living room. "Oh - hemipelvectomy!"

"I think we should watch this one first," George spoke up again, taking the tape out of Izzie's hands.

"No. No," Meredith spoke up, still picking up the tapes, "We're not watching my mother's surgery tapes, we're not unpacking boxes, and we're not having long conversations where we celebrate the moments of our lives!" she snapped, before picking up George's beer bottle and shoving it in his hands. "And use a coaster!"

"I ordered Chinese food," George added innocently after a second as Meredith started making her way upstairs, while Annabelle stayed where she was, too tired to argue with anyone.

"I hate Chinese food!" Meredith screamed angrily from upstairs before slamming the door to her room angrily, and Annabelle opened her eyes again just in time to see George and Izzie covering their mouths so they wouldn't laugh out loud.

"You know what?" Annabelle pushed herself off the wall, taking a few steps toward them, "I'm not gonna yell... I'm not gonna do anything because I'm just too damn tired. But invading our privacy like that? _Not cool_!" she snapped, before also heading upstairs, wanting nothing more than to take a shower and go to bed, leaving Izzie and George to stare after her quietly as they glanced down at the tapes in their hands before sharing a look, beginning to feel a bit guilty.

* * *

"Ugh, what do you want?" Annabelle groaned as Alex fell in step with her once she reached the front door of the hospital the next day, deciding to drive on her own instead of tagging along with her sister, who was clearly still angry from the day before. She wore a loose, dark green tank top, 3/4 skinny jeans and light brown boots up to her ankles, her dark brown hair up in a messy bun.

"And why are you so grumpy _yet again_?" Alex asked in annoyance, and Annabelle suddenly stopped right in front of the door to the hospital, turning around to look at him.

"You want to know why I'm grumpy? Fine, I'll tell you why I'm grumpy. I'm grumpy because I am _not_ a morning person. I'm grumpy because my roommates don't understand the meaning of the word 'privacy'. I'm grumpy because you stole our surgery, do you _really_ want me to keep going?"

"Okay, okay, I get it. You don't like me," Alex said, raising his hands in surrender, making Annabelle scoff, just as Meredith and Cristina walked past them.

"Hey," Cristina greeted her, purposely ignoring Alex.

"Hey," Annabelle returned, following her and Meredith inside.

"Why is the Nazi making us stay in the pit two days in a row?" Alex complained as he followed the three women into the hospital.

"Leftovers," Meredith replied.

"Leftovers," he repeated, sighing in annoyance.

"Got to get the cyclists who were too drunk, too stupid or too scared to get themselves to a hospital yesterday," Annabelle said.

"Meanwhile, she gets to do a freaking organ harvest," Alex pointed out grumpily, glancing at Cristina.

"It kills you, doesn't it?" the Asian woman turned her head to look at him.

"What?"

"That two women caught the harvest,"

"No, it kills me that anyone caught the harvest but me," Alex said as the four of them arrived in front of the elevators, Cristina pushing the button as they all waited for one to arrive. "Boobs do not factor into this equation. Unless, uh, you wanna show me yours,"

"I'm gonna become a lesbian," Annabelle spoke up after a few seconds of silence.

"Me, too," Cristina and Meredith nodded, before heading off toward the stairs with Annabelle following closely.

* * *

"Hey," Meredith greeted her sister as Annabelle walked up to the supply cart where she and Alex were already filling out a few charts while Annabelle took off her gloves, reaching for new ones.

"Hey," she greeted back as she stepped up to stand beside Alex, only to freeze as she glanced to the side and saw the familiar handsome man she treated the day before. The one who also kissed her; and she did remember seeing as he was admittedly an amazing kisser. "What's Viper doing here?"

"Uh, I don't know," Meredith shook her head, glancing at the man in the waiting room before going back to filling out her chart.

"Probably crashed his bike - again," Alex said, not even bothering to look up.

"How long has he been waiting?" Annabelle asked again, eyeing the hand clutching Viper's side suspiciously.

"I don't know. I've been busy on real cases," Alex said as Annabelle began to walk towards her former patient. "He's all yours!"

"Viper!" Annabelle called, before scrunching her face up in concern as she noticed his hand clutching his side tighter, "Viper? Are you okay?!" she called out, beginning to run towards him as she saw him staggering up to his feet, only to collapse on the floor as she began to cough up blood, "Viper!" Annabelle dropped to her knees beside him and quickly pulled up his shirt, only to gasp as she saw a huge, bulging wound where she stitched him up only a day earlier, "I need a gurney over here!" she yelled, and Meredith quickly ran over to them, dropping down to her knees on Viper's other side as a few nurses also ran over, two pushing a gurney, "Okay, on my count. One, two, three!" Annabelle called, and they all lifted Viper up as gently yet as quickly as they could before lying him down on the gurney. Annabelle then quickly put on the gloves that were handed to her, before jumping up on the gurney and straddling Viper so that she could put her hands over the wound, trying desperately to keep it closed, "Okay, someone call up to the O.R. and let them know we're coming, and page Dr. Bailey!" she yelled, "Let's go, Alex," she said, but looked up as she didn't feel the gurney moving, only to see Alex still standing where he was, frozen in place as he stared down at the patient, "Alex, push the damn gurney!" Annabelle yelled, as Meredith ran to pull the gurney down the hallway, Alex finally snapping out of his daze and moving to the other end of the gurney to push it.

"Clear the way! Coming through!" Meredith called to the passing staff and patients.

"Somebody get the elevator!" Alex yelled as they rounded the corner.

"Hurry! I don't know how much longer I can keep this wound closed!" Annabelle stressed, trying to apply as much pressure as possible just as they reached the elevator, the doors immediately closing behind them, "Move faster, damn it!" she swore as Meredith sighed loudly while leaning her hands on the gurney while Alex tapped his foot impatiently.

After what seemed like forever, the elevator doors finally opened again, and Meredith and Alex immediately began pushing and pulling the gurney down the hallway, where multiple scrub nurses were already waiting for them.

"Oh, this a new one?" Dr. Bailey frowned once they entered the O.R., some of the nurses helping Meredith and Alex push the gurney inside. "Somebody get her off my patient!"

"Come on," Alex grunted, putting his hands on Annabelle's waist and lifting her off the gurney, moving his hands to her elbows momentarily to help her regain balance.

"Annabelle, Meredith, go scrub in and Alex, get back downstairs," Dr. Bailey ordered as the two sisters rushed past her.

"Yeah, but I helped," Alex protested.

"Helped?" Dr. Bailey scoffed, "Yeah, they tell me down in the pit you only want to take the hot cases. Every pack of interns, there's always one fool running around trying to show off. And Alex, this time, that fool is you. Get out," she ordered as she and the scrub nurses quickly prepped Viper for surgery, while Alex stormed out of the O.R. angrily. "Somebody get me something to stand on! Lower this table. The mountain's gonna have to come to me,"

* * *

Once the surgery was over, Dr. Bailey, Meredith and Annabelle made their way out of the O.R. and into the waiting area, where they immediately spotted Viper's friends.

"This lovely group's his friends," Dr. Bailey muttered as they looked at the group of people fooling around without a care in the world. Annabelle could honestly say that they all looked the same to her, bar their genders. All dyed hair, all piercings, all tattoos. "Uh, you all belong to - uh, what's his name?"

"Viper," the sisters answered in unison.

"V-Viper?"

"Yeah, we were in the race," one of the guys in the group answered.

"H-How is he? Is he okay?" the only woman in the group asked.

"Is he okay?" Dr. Bailey repeated in disbelief. "No. No, he's not okay at all. He hurled is body down a concrete mountain at full speed for no good reason! Hey, y-yeah, I know you all pierce yourselves and smoke up and generally treat your bodies like your grungy asses can't break down, and h-hey, that's fine. You want to kill _yourselves_ flying down a concrete mountain, go to it - but there are other people walking, people driving, people trying to live their lives on that concrete mountain and one of them got his brains scrambled today because one of you little sniveling no good snot rag-"

"Dr. Bailey, Dr. Bailey!" Annabelle and Meredith both pulled on her arm to stop her from literally attacking those people.

"Y-Yeah so, okay, no! Your friend Viper, as far as I'm concerned, is not okay!" Dr. Bailey finished before walking away angrily, leaving the everyone to stare after her with wide eyes.

"Uh, sh-she's had a... long day," Annabelle stammered, "But, um... Viper's gonna make it. He's gonna live," she finally said, and her patient's friends all sighed in relief before thanking them, to which the two sisters nodded before walking away. "Oh, dear,"

"Yeah," Meredith sighed.

* * *

 _There's_ _another way to survive this competition - a way no one ever seems to tell you about. One you have to learn for yourself._

After making sure to have finished all her post-op notes, Annabelle changed back into her normal clothes and walked down the hallway, deciding to wait for her sister in the waiting area. However, she stopped in her tracks as she passed Viper's room, seeing him sitting up in bed, grinning and hugging his friends. She couldn't help but smile. She nearly had a heart attack from fear after seeing his wound and she had absolutely no idea how she managed to keep her hands from shaking in the O.R. But seeing him now, the fire and light back in his eyes, made it all beyond worth it. As Viper caught her eyes and gave her a smile with a nod while his female friend lied her head on his shoulder, Annabelle couldn't help but chuckle as she shook her head. It was definitely worth it.

 _Number five - it's not about the race at all. There are no winners or losers. Victories are counted by the number of lives saved._

` "So I take it the surgery was a success," came a voice from behind her and she turned around, only to see Alex walking up to her.

"Yeah, it was," she nodded, the smile still on her face as she continued to look at Viper.

"So he's gonna be completely fine?" Alex asked, and Annabelle couldn't help but her a bit of nervousness in his voice. Could it be that he was feeling guilty for pulling those nails out the day before?

"Yeah," she nodded again. "Yeah, he's gonna be fine,"

"Good," was all Alex said, before offering her a small smile and walking away, leaving Annabelle to stare after him. Maybe Alex Karev was not as bad as he made himself seem.

"Hey. You ready to go?" Meredith asked as she walked up to her sister, who nodded.

"Yeah," she replied, before freezing as she eyed her sister. "What's with the smile?"

"What smile?" Meredith asked, trying and failing to appear innocent.

"That smile,"

"There is no smile,"

"Oh, okay," Annabelle nodded, "So it wouldn't have anything to do with a certain neurosurgeon then?" she asked, looking at Meredith with a smirk.

"Shut up,"

The two sisters then made their way out of the hospital, each one heading to her own car, Annabelle driving behind Meredith. Once they made it home, they walked inside, only to hear Izzie's voice.

"Oh, okay, this is the best part. Watch. She pulls the flap of skin down over the face," Annabelle and Meredith shared a look before walking into the living room, only to see Izzie, George and Cristina all sprawled across the couches, watching one of their mother's surgical tapes.

"We were..." George trailed off as he nearly fell of the couch, trying to sit up quickly once he noticed the sisters' presence.

"Hi," Meredith simply greeted.

"We were j-we were just, uh... Cristina made us," George stammered, and Annabelle had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing at the look on Cristina's face.

 _And once in a while, if you're smart, the life you save could be your own._

"What are we watching?" Meredith then asked, turning her head to look at the TV, "Ooh. This is the one where our mother-"

"Literally pulls this guy's face off," Izzie filled in as Meredith threw herself on the couch in between her and George, while Annabelle sat down in between her sister and George.

"Yup," Annabelle nodded, reaching for a piece of pizza, grinning as Izzie, Cristina and George all yelled once the tape reached its best part. She glanced at Meredith, who returned the grin. Maybe having roommates isn't as bad as they thought. Maybe everything is different than they thought.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ Well, I was a bit unsure of the way I approached this chapter, but I hope I did it justice. I hope you like the relationship between Meredith and Annabelle and the growing relationship between Alex and Annabelle. I think Alex would be good for Annabelle as far as friendship goes. And we finally got some real action in this chapter.

I hope you guys liked Annabelle's small conversations with Meredith about Derek AKA McDreamy. She's definitely a Merder shipper (another proof that this is NOT a Derek/OC).

By the way, are there any pairings that you guys would like to see in this story, maybe a romance for Annabelle? I already have most of the story planned out but I could be persuaded to change my mind.

Anyway, hope you all liked the story and don't forget to review!


	4. No Man's Land

**_Disclaimer:_** _I don't own Grey's Anatomy in any shape or form. But I do own my OC._

 ** _A/N:_** _This one will start off at the beginning of No Man's Land and continue throughout the episode._

 ** _Reviews:_**

RHatch89: Thanks!

siriuslylovehp: Thank you! Yeah, Annabelle's the kind of person who usually sees the good in people. Maybe not automatically, but she does, and I thought adding that part with Alex to the story might be a good start. Especially considering what happens in this episode. I think Izzie's actions were justified at first, seeing as Alex was a real ass to her at first (hence what happens in this episode) but I really hate how she treated him even later, after he really changed. I'm actually not sure where I'll have Annabelle in that episode, though I will definitely have her learn about Alex's past one way or another.

: I guess you'll just have to wait and see ;) I'm not ruling anything out.

Jackie: Thank you! I'm glad you like her! Yeah, you can definitely consider her a Merder shipper. And yeah, there will be some really funny scenes once Derek and Meredith get together.

Psycho17: I guess you'll just have to wait and see ;) I can promise you one thing though, Annabelle and Alex will have a really interesting relationship. I won't tell you what kind of a relationship, but I promise you'll love it. And I do intend for there to be some sleep-arounds and mistakes before there is some real love, definitely. And yes, there will be some very funny scenes once Meredith and Derek get together, I promise.

.1884: You'll just have to wait and see ;) One thing I can definitely say is that Mark is my favorite male character ever, so I will definitely include him in Annabelle's life one way or another.

Bella: Thank you! And yeah, I'm honestly surprised how hateful Merder shippers are on this page - I've never had that happen before. Anyway, I'm glad you like the story!

DreamonAlina: Thank you! I know, I haven't seen many either, which makes me cry because I would absolutely _love_ to read a good Mark/OC :(

 **Operations. Temptations. Frustrations.**

 **Chapter 4**

 **No Man's Land**

 _Intimacy is a four-syllable word for "here are my heart and soul. Please grind them into hamburger, and enjoy." It's both desired and feared. Difficult to live with... and impossible to live without._

"Hey," Annabelle greeted her sister once she came downstairs, only to frown once she saw the album of the family photos someone once bothered to take during their very short time as a real family. She was already in full clothing, despite the early hour, and was wearing dark skinny jeans with a few rips around the knees and a loose white blouse with 3/4 sleeves, along with 2 1/2-inch heeled beige sandals, and the top strands of her hair were braided and pinned to the side. "What are you doing with that?"

"Uh, nothing," Meredith quickly said after looking up sharply in surprise, before quickly closing the album and putting it aside as Annabelle frowned at her reaction. Does the fact that they are sisters and have known each other for their entire lives not mean that they can openly talk about their childhood?

 _Intimacy also comes attached to life's three R's - relatives, romance, and roommates._

"Coffee?" Izzie suddenly asked from behind them as she also arrived downstairs, her voice muffled by the toothbrush in her mouth as she stood before them, wearing only a tank top and panties.

 _There are some things you can't escape... and other things you just don't want to know._

"Hello, kitty," Annabelle smiled, trying not to chuckle as she eyed the Hello Kitty picture on Izzie's panties. "Yes, please,"

 **4:30 AM**

"You don't understand, me gonads, you ovaries," George stressed for what seemed to be the hundredth time as they all got out of the car once they arrived at the hospital parking lot, making Annabelle roll her eyes.

"George, will you please just stop? So Izzie walked into the bathroom when you were in there. It's not a big deal," she said, and George's eyes widened.

"Not a... I was in the shower!" he exclaimed, making Annabelle and Izzie both roll their eyes.

"It's not like she saw anything," Annabelle said, before furrowing her eyebrows in thought, "Did you?" she turned her head to look at Izzie, who simply shook her head. "See? And even if she did, we are all doctors here, George! And adults! We've all seen it before,"

"Oh, that reminds me. We are out of tampons," Izzie said as they started to walk through the parking lot.

"Y-You're parading through the bathroom in your underwear when I'm naked in the shower!" George exclaimed as he followed Izzie closely, while Meredith and Annabelle shared a look, both trying not to laugh.

"Can you add it to your list, please?" Izzie asked, as if not hearing him, which made Annabelle want to laugh out loud all that much more.

"What?!"

"Tampons!" Annabelle said loudly. "To the list. It's your turn,"

"I am a man!" George exclaimed in outrage, walking quickly to catch up with his roommates. "I don't buy girl products! I don't want you walking in while I'm in the shower, and I don't want to see you in your underwear!"

"It doesn't bother me!" Izzie exclaimed, trying to hide her smile, "Okay? Look at me in my underwear, George. Take your time, it's no big deal," she said as they walked through the doors of the hospital, making George stop in his tracks as he stared after her with wide eyes.

"Oh, my God," Annabelle finally couldn't hold in her laugh anymore as she looked at Izzie once they were out of earshot.

"I've gotta say, I thoroughly enjoyed that," Izzie said, making Annabelle and Meredith both chuckle as they headed to the locker room.

* * *

"You are the first person they see in the morning. You say please, you say thank you, you apologize for waking them up!" Dr. Bailey spoke as she walked through the locker room, where all the interns were - already in their scrubs - except Alex, who walked in just as Dr. Bailey finished her sentence, "You make them feel good about you. Why is that important? 'Cause then they'll talk to you and tell you what's wrong. Why is _that_ important? Because then you can tell your attending what they need to know during rounds. And why is that important? Because if you make your resident look bad... she'll torture you until you cry for your mama," Dr. Bailey said, and no one dared to laugh no matter how funny they found her words, fearing - or perhaps even knowing - that she was serious. "Now get out there, I want pre-rounds done by 5:30 A.M.!"

"Hey," Annabelle looked down once she heard the voice, her brows furrowing in confusion as she saw Alex sitting on the bench, looking up at her with a small smile.

"Hey," she returned, unable to keep the confusion and surprise out of her voice. Was he actually being nice?

"Ah, good morning, Dr. Model," Alex suddenly turned to Izzie, who walked over to her locker in her scrub pants and tank top, with a smirk. _And the moment's over_ , Annabelle thought to herself as she rolled her eyes.

"Dr. Evil Spawn," Izzie returned.

"Ooh. Nice tat," Alex said as he eyed the small tattoo of a butterfly on Izzie's hip, using his flashlight to get a better look. "They airbrush that out for the catalogs?"

"I don't know. What'd they do for the 6-6-6 on your skull?" Izzie retorted before walking away, making Annabelle hide her smile.

* * *

"Mr. Humphrey?" Izzie called quietly as she and Annabelle made their way into their patient's room, with the brunette switching the light on. "Mr. Humphrey, we're sorry to wake you,"

"Come on," the man groaned, covering his eyes with his hand as he slowly woke up. "What time is it?"

"10 after 5:00," Annabelle said apologetically as she opened the patient's chart.

"I'm sorry, I just need to do a brief exam, if you could sit up for one moment..." Izzie apologized, pulling her stethoscope from her neck and getting ready to examine the patient, and the man sighed before slowly sitting up and hunching over so that Izzie could lift up his shirt and put the stethoscope to his back. "Thanks. This might be a little bit cold so just take a deep breath. If you could just take a deep breath,"

"You're not a doctor," the man suddenly spoke up as he looked up at the blonde, making Annabelle look at him strangely as she and Izzie shared a brief glance.

"I'm Dr. Stevens but you can call me Izzie, Dr. Grey and I will be helping Dr. Bailey with your biopsy this morning,"

"No, I don't think so, no," Mr. Humphrey said, pulling away so that Izzie couldn't touch him as Annabelle closed the chart, taking a step forward as she eyed the patient.

"Mr. Humphrey, this will just take a moment," she said, trying to soothe the man.

"No, get me Dr. Bailey or-or Dr. Victor," the man shook his head as he leaned over, reaching for something on his nightstand.

"I-I just need to do a brief-" Izzie tried again, but was cut off once again.

"You don't need to do anything!" Mr. Humphrey snapped, before holding up the magazine he retrieved from his nightstand, and Annabelle's eyes widened as she eyed the picture of a tall, beautiful blonde model in sexy lingerie, "Is this you? Huh? Is this you?" he pressed, but Izzie's mouth couldn't form words as she stared at the picture. "It is, isn't it? You know, get out of my room,"

"Mr. Humphrey-"

"Get out of my room," the man snapped, before pointing to Annabelle. "She can examine me. But you can't,"

"I-"

"Iz, it's... fine. Go," Annabelle spoke up, before nodding reassuringly as Izzie looked at her helplessly. After giving the man one last sad look, Izzie walked out of the room as Annabelle pulled her stethoscope off her neck and moved towards the patient. "Okay, I'm gonna need you to... take a deep breath,"

* * *

"55-year-old woman with adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. Has had radiation therapy to reduce the tumor load. Rates her abdominal pain 3 out of 10, positive nausea but no vomiting. Diarrhea, um, hematochezia, melena, afebrile with T-max 37-2 and stable vital signs. Lab significant for a total ability of 7, and elevated liver enzymes,"

"Thank you, Dr. Yang," Dr. Burke quickly spoke up before Cristina could continue as they and Chief Webber all stood beside the former scrub nurse's bed, the African-American woman staring at Cristina with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Aggressive little witch, isn't she?" she spoke up, looking up at Dr. Burke and Dr. Webber, "She stole my chart during pre-rounds so she could scrub in on my surgery. She's hoping for a whipple," she directed the last part to the chief, nudging him.

"Uh, actually, Liz, I was gonna give you to Meredith Grey," Dr. Webber said with a smile, and Liz looked up at him.

"Ellis' daughter?"

"Yes, she and her sister are both interns this year," Chief Webber replied, smiling. "Thought you'd have something to talk about,"

"Oh, I doubt that. I was Ellis' scrub nurse for 18 years, practically lived with that woman, I didn't meet those daughters once," Liz said, a sudden sadness in her eyes.

"Well, anyway... Shepherd has Meredith Grey on the guy with nails in his head while the other Grey is on a case with Dr. Bailey," Dr. Burke said.

"There's a guy with nails in his head?" Cristina suddenly spoke up, bewildered.

"Seven of them. Shot himself in the head with a nail gun,"

" _Nail_ nails?"

"16 pennies. 3 1/2 inches long,"

"I me-and he's still alive?" Cristina asked incredulously.

"Fully conscious. Should be a pretty interesting surgery," Dr. Burke nodded, looking over at Chief Webber with a small smirk, which was returned.

"But I guess you've got the whipple," Dr. Webber looked at Cristina, while Liz smirked.

* * *

"Is he prepped?" Dr. Bailey asked Izzie, who was standing outside of the O.R. The blonde hesitated, before glancing over her shoulder to take a peek through the window.

"I think they're doing it right now," she replied.

"You think?" Dr. Bailey repeated in disbelief, "He's having a prostate biopsy, trust me, if you'd been in there, you'd know," she said, just as Annabelle opened the door.

"He's ready," she informed the resident, who nodded before stepping inside the O.R. as Annabelle remained where she was, looking at Izzie a bit worriedly. "Iz? You coming?"

"Yeah," Izzie nodded with a sigh after a few seconds of silence, and Annabelle nodded before going back to the O.R. again, the blonde woman following her.

"Okay, Mr. Humphrey, we're gonna get started," Dr. Bailey informed the patient, who was lying on the table with his legs spread in the air.

"Get her out of here," Mr. Humphrey snapped as soon as he saw Izzie.

"J-"

"I want her out of here! Just get her out of here!" he yelled as Annabelle and Dr. Bailey both attempted to calm him down, "Just you, go! Now! Just go now!" he continued to yell, and Izzie eventually listened, quickly leaving the room.

"He-Hey, relax! _Relax_ , Mr. Humphrey," Dr. Bailey ordered, shooting Annabelle a confused look.

* * *

"You okay?" Annabelle asked Izzie as soon as Mr. Humphrey's biopsy was finished, seeing her friend sitting on a gurney outside the room, playing with her shoelaces.

"You want to tell me what that was all about?" Dr. Bailey asked as she came out of the room, not giving Izzie a chance to answer Annabelle's question.

"Nothing," Izzie tried to lie as she stood up, "He's probably just crazy or something," she said, but Annabelle simply shot her a look, silently telling her to not make her situation any worse by lying to their resident, while Dr. Bailey didn't react at all. After a few seconds, Izzie took in a breath and walked over to stand beside the resident. "Bethany Whisper,"

"What?"

"Bethany Whisper," Izzie repeated in defeat. "I did a new Bethany Whisper lingerie ad, he saw it in a magazine,"

"You got time to pose for magazines?" Dr. Bailey asked incredulously.

"No, the shoot was last year, it just came out,"

"So because he saw you in a thong-"

"No, it wasn't a thong," Izzie scoffed.

"You're hiding out in the hallway," Dr. Bailey continued as if Izzie never said anything.

"I just think it might be easier if you assign another intern, or let Anna do this one by herself,"

"Easy is not in your job description," the resident said, "You are a doctor, he is a patient, he's _your_ patient. Biopsy these," she ordered, "If they come back positive, I expect to see you in surgery," she said, before walking past Annabelle and proceeding to walk out of the room. However, she stopped in the doorway and turned around to face the blonde intern again, seeing her head hanging in defeat. "Hey, you're on this, you understand me?"

"You never answered my question," Annabelle spoke up after a few seconds of silence once Dr. Bailey left the room.

"What?" Izzie looked up, looking quite distracted.

"Are you okay?" Annabelle repeated her question from earlier, and Izzie sighed as she looked down at the test samples in her hands.

"Not really," she finally answered after a moment of silence, "But I guess she's right. Easy's not in our job description," she attempted a small smile, though it looked more like a grimace.

"No, I guess it's not," Annabelle agreed, before offering her a small smile and taking one of the samples out of her hands. "Okay. Let's do this,"

* * *

"The good news is it hasn't spread from his prostate to his lymph nodes," Dr. Bailey reported to Dr. Victor, coming out of Mr. Humphrey's room to stand next to Annabelle and Izzie.

"With a radical prostatectomy, we could probably get it all," Dr. Victor said, looking at the chart his resident handed him. He was an older man, around his 60's. "Good prognosis,"

"Spare some nerves, give him a chance at a normal sex life?" Dr. Bailey proposed.

"Young puppies like to take chances with cancer. Old dogs like me, we do what works," he said.

"Yes, sir, of course," Dr. Bailey replied.

"We on the schedule tomorrow?" he asked, handing Annabelle the patient's chart back.

"Uh, 10:00 A.M.,"

"Good. Maybe I can squeeze in a round," Dr. Victor said, before walking away, leaving Annabelle to wonder how a jerk like him was such a successful doctor.

"An ass who deals in asses," Dr. Bailey hummed, and Annabelle couldn't agree more as she and Izzie shared a look. "We call him Limp Harry. He never spares the nerves,"

* * *

"Hey," Cristina greeted the two women hastily as she almost bumped into them while leaving the gallery of the O.R. where Dr. Shepherd and Meredith were working on the man who shot himself in the head with a nail gun.

"Hey," Annabelle and Izzie replied, smiling at her briefly before entering the gallery.

"Here. My share of the grocery money," Izzie said, handing George, who was also sitting in the gallery and watching the surgery, a few bills.

"When are you going?" Annabelle asked as she and Izzie looked for any seats, the blonde quickly taking the one behind Dr. Burke, leaving Annabelle to sit behind George, right next to Alex.

"Tonight," George replied.

"Okay. Seriously, George, please don't-"

"Yeah, could we not talk about it here?" he quickly interrupted Izzie.

"What - tampons?" Annabelle asked, unable to help herself.

"Did you not hear a word I said?" George asked, and Annabelle had to bite her lip so that she wouldn't laugh.

"You're a man, we know," Izzie said, making a few men in the galley chuckle and 'ooh', one of them, of course, being Alex.

"Talk about shrinking the salamander," he said with a grin, leaning over to speak in George's ear. However, he quickly pulled back and groaned in pain as Annabelle elbowed him in the side, "Oooh. Ouch," he looked over at the brunette, smirking. "If you weren't so obviously a woman, I'd say you hit like a man,"

"Oh, trust me, sweetheart," Annabelle spoke, before turning her head to look at him, "You wish I hit like man. Because then, it wouldn't hurt so much," she gave him a sweet smile, before turning back around to watch the surgery as Alex looked down, chuckling quietly to himself. He was starting to like this girl more and more.

* * *

"What's with all the yelling?" Annabelle asked the next morning as she followed her sister into the bathroom, where George was taking a shower and Izzie was standing with her arms crossed over her chest, looking beyond angry. The brunette was already fully dressed, wearing a black-and-white striped blouse with 3/4 sleeves, her favorite jeans, and white sneakers. To complete the look, the front strands of her hair were braided and pinned on the back of her head.

"I'm not riding in the same car with him," Izzie said.

"Well, if you're going like that, you're not riding with me, either," the brunette said, eyeing the blonde's tank top and panties as her sister crouched down and opened the cabinet underneath the sink.

"Where are the tampons?" she asked.

"He didn't buy them," Izzie answered, nearly growling in anger.

"You didn't buy them?" Meredith repeated in disbelief.

"Men don't buy tampons!" George yelled.

"You know what, you are gonna have to get over the man thing, George, we're women!" Izzie yelled as she opened the cabin door, making George fall down in the bathtub clumsily as he struggled to cover himself up. "We have vaginas! Get used to it!"

"I am not your sister!" George yelled after her as she walked out of the bathroom, while Annabelle simply stayed where she was, her lips pressed together in a line and her eyebrows raised in amusement. _What the hell have I gotten myself into?_

* * *

Annabelle frowned as she walked to the locker room, sensing something to be wrong. She walked into the hospital a few minutes later than her sister and friends because her phone fell off her lap while she was driving and she had to look under the seats to find it, which wasn't as easy as it sounds. She ended up with at least two bruises on her head.

"Go!" she suddenly heard Izzie scream, and quickly stepped aside as the blonde walked past her angrily. It was then she realized that Izzie was only in her underwear, her clothes in her hands. Annabelle's frown deepened, and her eyes widened in shock as she finally entered the locker room. The lockers, the door, the walls, everything was covered in pictures of Izzie in sexy lingerie, both colored and black and white. Annabelle looked around in disbelief, before her eyes finally fell on Alex, who was standing in the middle of the room.

"You did this?" she asked, her tone both knowing and disbelieving.

"Look-"

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" she scoffed, cutting the young man off, before looking at all the other men in the room, "You are all disgusting!" she said loudly, before looking at George, who was standing by one of the lockers quietly, "Take these down," she ordered, and he nodded as she quickly grabbed her scrubs and ran out of the room, wanting to find Izzie before she did anything stupid. Which Annabelle wouldn't blame her for if she was being completely honest.

She ran down the halls, looking around for any sign of the blonde doctor, before finally halting as she Izzie, now in her scrubs, walking towards Mr. Humphrey's room with one of the pictures in her hands.

"Iz. Izzie, wait!" Annabelle tried calling, but Izzie ignored her and entered their patient's room, making Annabelle close her eyes briefly before halting by the doorstop.

"This is who I was," Izzie said as she slammed the picture of herself on Mr. Humphrey's table, "It has nothing to do with who I am now. I'm a physician. A _surgeon_. And I am just as qualified as any other intern on this floor. So you're just gonna have to get over your chauvinist crap and allow me to do my job," she said, her voice cracking the tiniest bit.

"I'm sure you're a very good doctor," Mr. Humphrey said after a few seconds of silence, and Annabelle's brows rose in surprise.

"Then what is your problem?" Izzie asked, wondering the same thing Annabelle was.

"Look... I fantasized about you. About the woman in this photo, whoever she is. I'm not proud of it, but it's a fact," Mr. Humphrey said, before looking down, "Do you know what they're gonna do to me today? I have cancer. And they're gonna lift up my legs and expose me to the world and cut out my prostate and my nerves - effectively neuter me. So is it so hard to understand that I don't want the woman who's in that photo to witness... my emasculation?" he said, and Annabelle looked down, as did Izzie, both feeling even more sorry now for the man in that bed.

* * *

Annabelle was wandering around the hospital pointlessly, surprisingly not knowing what to do with her free time. She was an intern, which usually meant that she didn't have a chance to even so much as catch her breath, and yet here she was, wandering around the hospital, with nothing to do. Then it hit her. Liz Fallon, her mother's scrub nurse for 18 years was in the hospital. And she was dying.

With her mind made up, Annabelle quickly checked the patient registry and then headed to her room, wanting to finally meet the woman who knew her mother better than her. However, as she made it to her destination, she stopped as she heard a very familiar laugh. But it sounded as though her sister was laughing and crying at the same time.

"I'm sorry. It's not really funny. It's not funny, but..." she heard Meredith say, and stopped right beside the doorway, remaining out of sight.

"What's her diagnosis?" she heard another woman's voice, and concluded that it must be Liz Fallon's, seeing as it was croaky and even _sounded_ sick.

"Alzheimer's," Annabelle answered after a few seconds of silence, coming out from around the corner and leaning against the doorway, making Meredith look up in surprise. The woman in bed slowly turned around, and Annabelle could finally see her. She was an African-American woman, her wise and warm eyes already mostly yellow from her disease. "Early onset,"

"I take it you're Annabelle," Liz said, and Annabelle offered her a small smile.

"That's me,"

"And she doesn't want anyone to know?" she spoke up about Ellis Grey again, and Annabelle shook her head.

"No,"

"She's in a nursing home, and..." Meredith said. "We're the only people she'll allow to see her,"

"But if I know Ellis Grey, she made the nursing home sign a contract to that effect," Liz said, and Annabelle looked at her.

"You know our mother well," she said, sounding quite impressed, and Liz hummed.

"What a bitch," she commented suddenly, and Annabelle and Meredith looked at her in surprise before laughing, Liz quickly joining them. Even if it hurt, it felt good to laugh.

* * *

"It's a waste of a bed and it's a waste of my time," Annabelle and Meredith heard Cristina say as they walked over to her and Izzie outside the hospital. Cristina was lying on a bench, while Izzie was leaning against a railing.

"Wait, who are we talking about?" Annabelle asked in confusion as she moved to lean again a pole, Meredith taking up the spot beside her.

"Miss Fallon. They brought her here to die," Cristina answered.

"Wouldn't you want them to do the same thing for you?" Izzie asked.

"No. You know what, I'd want the doctors to do everything they could, I want them to cut me open until the minute I die," Cristina snapped, sitting up and picking up a magazine.

"Sometimes, doing everything can be worse than doing nothing," Meredith said, not looking up from the book she was reading.

"You are eight feet tall," Cristina suddenly spoke up, making Izzie and Annabelle look at her in confusion before realizing that she's probably talking about the Bethany Whisper picture, "Your boobs are perfect. Your hair is down to there. If I were you, I would walk around naked all the time. I wouldn't, uh, I wouldn't have a job, I wouldn't have skills, I wouldn't even know how to read. I'd just be... naked," she said, handing the magazine to Meredith, who laughed at her friend's comment as Izzie rolled her eyes.

"It's makeup. It's retouching,"

"You get that we hate you, right?" Cristina said, and Annabelle laughed as Izzie smiled before both of their pagers went off.

"It's Bailey again," Annabelle said, and Izzie nodded.

"You know what, any patient who spanks to his doctor's pictures forfeits his rights," Cristina spoke up again, looking at Izzie, "You're seriously not gonna give up the prostatectomy, are you?" she asked, but the blonde remained silent as she put on her coat, "Izzie," Cristina called again, but received no answer. "Oh, forget it. You know, sometimes it is actually, you know, painful to be around you,"

"You'll get over it," Annabelle promised with a sweet smile, making Izzie and Meredith chuckle.

* * *

"Where the hell have you two been?" were the first words out of Dr. Bailey's mouth once Izzie and Annabelle made it to Mr. Humphrey's room, where George was helping a few nurses move the patient onto a gurney. "When I page, you answer, it's not that difficult to understand. O'Malley answered your page, he's doing your prep,"

"We're sorry," Annabelle apologized as Izzie and Mr. Humphrey shared a look before the man looked away. The two interns then quickly stepped aside as the nurses began wheeling Mr. Humphrey out of the room, while George shot his friends an apologetic look to which they just shook their heads.

"If I heard the words 'Bethany Whisper' one more time-"

"I can't," Izzie cut Dr. Bailey off, which both George and Annabelle knew was a very bad idea. "Okay? I just... can't. He doesn't want me in there,"

"No, what he wants it to not have cancer. What he wants is to be saved. Y-You want to stay in the scrub room, that's your choice," Dr. Bailey said, before pointing her finger at Annabelle. "But I expect _you_ to be there,"

"Yes, Dr. Bailey," Annabelle nodded, and the woman shot Izzie one last look before walking out of the room, Annabelle quickly following her. She then realized that Izzie was walking right behind them.

* * *

"Dr. Victor, I'm sorry, but these are viable nerves, we should save them," Dr. Bailey spoke up as she and Annabelle watched Dr. Victor resect the prostate.

"It'll take at least an hour longer. And we might not get it all," Dr. Victor responded, and Annabelle silently shook her head. Now she understood why they call him Limp Harry. The man is terrible.

"But his prognosis with chemo is nearly as good and frankly, if you're worried about missing your tee time, I'd be more than happy to finish," Dr. Bailey pressed, before they all looked up as Izzie suddenly entered the room, holding a mask over her mouth and nose. "Dr. Stevens,"

"Can we help you?"

"I'm sorry, Dr. Bailey," Izzie said, "Dr. Victor, I agree with her. You just can't... You have to save the nerves," she said, pulling her mask away from her face.

"What?"

"The nerves - you have to save them,"

"Dr. Stevens, I can handle this," Dr. Bailey snapped.

"No, you told me the most important thing is giving the patient what they want, what Humphrey wants is his erection," Izzie said.

"She's yours. You get her out," Dr. Victor said to Dr. Bailey, glaring at Izzie.

"Can't do that, sir," Dr. Bailey shook her head, "You know how these young puppies are," she said, and Annabelle looked away, licking her lips as a smile grew on them.

"I'm going to tell Richard about both of you,"

"You do that. In the meantime, let's pretend it's you on this table and give this a try," Dr. Bailey said, and Annabelle bit her lip to stop herself from laughing as she and Izzie shared a look, while George grinned and gave them a thumbs up.

 _I wish there were a rule book for intimacy. Some kind of a guide that could tell you when you've crossed the line. It would be nice if you could see it coming. But I don't know how you fit it on a map._

"Of course, now you know every time he gets a rise, he'll be thinking of you," Dr. Bailey said to Izzie as they and Annabelle were in the scrub room after the surgery on Mr. Humphrey was over, making the interns chuckle. This time, it will be a good thing.

 _You take it where you can get it... and keep it as long as you can. Maybe there are none. Maybe the rules of intimacy are something you have to define for yourself._

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** Hope you all liked the chapter! I tried to mix the plot as well as some Annabelle/Izzie bonding. I want to start all the relationships out slow, so it may seem like they're all kind of all over in the first few chapters, but I think it's a lot better this way than just one chapter of conversation and then a sudden "he/she's my best friend."

I hope there wasn't too much non-originality in this chapter. There wasn't really much to work with, and I definitely wanted to flash some of Izzie's good characteristics rather than just Annabelle's. Frankly, I've seen way too many stories where a friendship starts out because a character admires the OC. I want Annabelle to be the one to find admirable characteristics in her friends instead. Also, if you want any pairings, let me know and I just might be able to be persuaded!

By the way, sorry about the lack of Derek in this chapter. I'm sure I'll be able to add a bit more of him in the next chapter.

Anyway, hope you all liked the chapter and don't forget to review!


	5. Shake Your Groove Thing

**_Disclaimer:_** _I don't own Grey's Anatomy in any shape or form. But I do own my OC._

 ** _A/N:_** Hopefully, you guys like this chapter! We'll see the party at Meredith's house and some more Alex/Annabelle. And don't worry, we'll see more of Annabelle with Merder soon.

 ** _Reviews:_**

RHatch89: Thank you!

siruslylovehp: Thank you! I'm so glad you like it! I usually have a plan as to when I'm going to write parts of the episodes, but I don't really have a schedule for actual updates because some chapters are longer than others, and I often actually don't find the time to write when I want to anyway because of different things happening in my life. However, I'm definitely gonna try to update more regularly. And I kind of agree, though I think Bailey was harsh for the right reason. I mean, Izzie came out stronger in the end, and it's Bailey's job to teach her interns how to handle certain situations. This was one of them.

Jackiiiieeee111: Thank you! I promise, you will see more of those three soon enough. I'm actually planning a pretty serious scene between Meredith and Annabelle for one of the earlier episodes in season 2, and you will definitely get to see Annabelle with Merder soon enough. And I guarantee most of that will be very entertaining :D

Ceruleanrainblues: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you like it! You will definitely see more of Meredith and Annabelle, particularly in season 2. And yes, Annabelle is definitely a Merder shipper (though that might be a bit rocky in season 2). I agree, Alex definitely deserves love. And I will definitely make the final pairing slow - there will be sex with other people, there might be sex with that person before an actual relationship starts, there might be friendship first and then a relationship, etc. I'm a strong believer in slow growth and development when it comes to stories, so you definitely don't have to be worried about anything serious happening too fast. Though I don't think we'll see Viper again (which I do regret because I've always loved him, too) :( However, I hope you like what I have in store for Annabelle relationship-wise.

 **Operations. Temptations. Frustrations.**

 **Chapter 5**

 **Shake Your Groove Thing**

 _Remember when you were a kid and your biggest worry was, like, if you'd get a bike for your birthday or if you'd get to eat cookies for breakfast? Being an adult - totally overrated. I mean, seriously, don't be fooled by all the hot shoes and the great sex and the no parents anywhere telling you what to do. Adulthood is responsibility._

"Hey, have any of you seen my sister?" Annabelle asked her fellow interns as she pulled her scrub top on over her head, smoothing it out quickly before turning around to place her clothes in her locker, her hair not getting in her face for once as it rested in a braided pony tail.

"I thought she was supposed to be meeting us here," Izzie replied as she and George looked over at the brunette, confused.

 _Responsibility - it really does suck._

"She was but she's still nowhere to be found and she's not answering any of my calls," Annabelle said, her words coming out faster and faster in frustration. "She's gonna miss rounds!"

"I'm sure she'll be here soon," George tried to comfort her as they all closed their lockers, hanging their stethoscopes around their necks.

"Yeah, I mean, she's getting a shot at a freaking heart surgery today. There's no way she's gonna miss that," Izzie added, before sighing and tilting her head backwards as she placed her hands on her neck, closing her eyes briefly, "God, I can barely keep my eyes open," she groaned softly.

 _Really, really sucks. Adults have to be places and do things and earn a living and pay the rent. And if you're training to be a surgeon, holding a human heart in your hands - hello! Talk about responsibility! Kind of makes bikes and cookies look really, really good, doesn't it?_

* * *

"I wish I could hold a heart," George said two hours later with his mouth full as he, Annabelle and Cristina sat in the gallery and watched Meredith place the patient's heart back in her chest, apples in their hands.

"A monkey could hold a heart," Cristina said, dryly.

"You're just mad Burke didn't ask you," Annabelle said teasingly, turning her head to look at the Asian woman with a smirk on her lips, "Okay, I got to go. I'm with Karev today," she said, groaning in distaste at the thought of the young man as she stood up, stretching.

"Have fun," Cristina said, and Annabelle turned her body to look down at her, a fake sweet smile on her face.

"Bite me," she retorted, before heading for the door, nearly bumping into Izzie on her way out.

"Hey," the blonde smiled, and Annabelle returned it hastily as she passed her.

"Hey," she replied, before heading out the door as Izzie's eyes fell on George.

"George. I need more ice and chips," she said, making both George and Cristina look at her, George's eyes wide.

"Who else did you invite?" he asked, his tone near incredulous.

"Izzie, we said the list was jocks only - surgery, trauma, plastics," Cristina said. "Who else?"

"Just some people from peds," Izzie replied, shrugging nonchalantly as Cristina rolled her eyes.

"You invited the preschoolers to Meredith's house, God, next thing, you'll say that you invited the shrinks," she commented in annoyance, but froze as Izzie looked away, licking her lips. "She invited mental defects. This party is D.O.A.,"

"You know, Meredith and Annabelle think this is gonna be just like a little, small, meet-your-boyfriend cocktail thing, did you clear this with them?" George asked as Izzie sipped her tea.

"No, but I will," she replied, before turning her head, noticing George and Cristina's stares on her. "I promise!"

 _The scariest part about responsibility? When you screw up, and let it slip right through your fingers._

* * *

"How long has your back been hurting you?" Annabelle asked the patient as she, Alex and Derek all stood in the patient's room. The patient, a middle-aged man, was lying on his side in his bed, groaning in pain. Alex was currently examining him, Annabelle was quickly writing down everything the patient told them in his chart, and Derek was flipping through his notes.

"It's chronic," the man answered, breathing heavily in pain, "Means I have it all the time," he clarified, turning his head to look at Alex.

"I know what 'chronic' means," Alex said, annoyed, as Annabelle and Derek smirked lightly.

"What kind of pain are you having?" Annabelle asked after licking her lips to get rid of the small smile.

"Oh, man, the pain's bad, it's like... a thousand samurai warriors stabbing their swords into my spine," the man groaned again. "I'm allergic to aspirin, most NSAIDs,"

"So maybe we'll start you on morphine," Alex suggested, turning his head to look at Dr. Shepherd, who was now examining the patient himself, while the patient shook his head.

"No. The only things that will work are, uh, damerol or dilaudid. A ton of dilaudid - that will set me straight," he said, while Annabelle and Derek's eyes fell on his right arm, which had very obvious small bruises from needle punctures all over, making it very clear how the man was managing his pain.

"The standard starting dose is two," Alex informed him.

"Did you see the Tom Cruise samurai movie, hmm? Pow, pow, pow!" the man said, attempting to punch the air and demonstrate, only to stop and place his hand on his back in pain again.

* * *

"Exaggerated and overly specific description of his pain," Annabelle began to list as she, Alex and Derek left the patient's room.

"Yeah, and a self-prescription, 'pow, pow, pow'?" Alex cut in as they all stopped in the hallway. "He's a dilaudid junkie,"

"So what do you do?" Derek asked, adding a few notes to the patient's chart.

"Well, you, you check the database for you history, refer to a program and discharge," Alex said as Annabelle eyed him, annoyed. If there was one thing she did not appreciate, it was being cut off.

"After you give him something," Derek said, closing the chart and handing it back to Annabelle.

"That's exactly what he wants," Alex noted, looking at the attending in disbelief.

"Junkie or not, you still have to treat his pain as if it were real," Derek explained before quickly checking his pager as it beeped.

"Why?"

"It's the first rule in pain management, genius - always err on the side of caution," Annabelle said, making Alex give her an annoyed look as Derek nodded.

"Exactly. He's in our care, he says he's in pain. Start a central line, his veins are shot," he ordered, and Annabelle nodded as Derek walked away, already making a call to someone.

"Oh, stop looking like that," Annabelle commented, noticing the annoyed and disbelieving look on Alex's face.

"Are you serious? We're about to give a junkie all the drugs he wants so that he can get all high and merry," he said, his voice rising in annoyance.

"Yes, I realize that," Annabelle said slowly.

"Then why the hell are you listening to him?" Alex asked, his voice rising.

"Because he's my boss! He's _our_ boss. So how about you do what you're told and not mess this up because I really don't feel like losing my job today!" she rose her voice, nearly shouting as she slammed the chart into his hands before walking down the hallway, needing a second to cool off so that she wouldn't let her anger get the best of her. Usually, she had no problem controlling it, but that Karev guy just really ticked her off for some reason, and she couldn't figure out why.

* * *

"Did you start that central line yet?" Annabelle asked Alex a while later as she found him in one of the research rooms, sitting in front of a computer.

"No,"

"What do you mean, 'no'?" she gritted out through her teeth, entering the room fully to stand right behind him. Alex opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by another voice from the doorway.

"When I tell you to start a central line, you start a central line - _no_ judgement, no question," Derek said, his voice showing how angry he was with the interns.

"The guy's been in seven hospitals in the last four months, he's a major addict," Alex said, pointing at the computer screen where the patient's file and history were shown.

"The patient has a three-lumbar fusion,"

"He's a junkie," Alex pressed. "I mean, we shouldn't be giving him-"

"Yeah. He's an addict," Derek cut him off. "But his pain is real. Now lose the attitude, get down there, start a central line,"

"Let's go," Annabelle growled, grabbing Alex's arm roughly and pulling him off the chair, dragging him out the door, "You are serious pushing it," she said as she dragged him down the hallway.

"He's a junkie! He's a dog whom we're about to feed a full-meat stake!" Alex said loudly, pulling his arm out of her grip, effectively pulling them both to a stop. "So why are you getting so worked up about this?!"

"I'm getting worked up about this because _you_ are walking on thin ice here and you're pulling _me_ with you! It doesn't take a genius to figure out that your attitude's been your undoing before but it's definitely not going to be mine, you _got_ _it_?" she growled, stepping closer to look him in the eye. They stared each other down for a few seconds, neither one willing to waver, before Alex finally nodded, "Good. Now let's go and get that central line started, okay?" Annabelle said, before heading down the hallway, leaving Alex to follow her.

Once they reached the patient's room, they quickly got to work, working efficiently and quietly. The man soon relaxed, the pain easing as the medicine kicked in, and the two doctors were now in the room only to check his vitals. The patient put his arms behind his head and relaxed, watching them work before concentrating on the pensive look on Alex's face as he made sure the central line was stable.

"You don't like me very much, do you?" the man finally asked, and Annabelle turned around sharply from where she was checking his monitors, looking at Alex and silently begging him to not make their situation with their attending worse by saying something stupid to their patient.

"Oh, Jerry, it's not you specifically, it's just, uh, it's just people like you, that's all," Alex replied, just as Derek entered the room.

"Doc! I'm feeling pretty good," Jerry smiled, and Derek returned it. "Pain's... about a 3,"

"A 3? That's excellent. Mr. Frost, I'm glad we could help you out, as well as County, Mercy West, Seattle Pres., a lot of people have helped you out lately, Jerry. We're pleased we could do our part," Derek said, before turning his head to look at his interns. "Who's on discharge today, Dr. Grey?

"Uh, Izzie Stevens," Annabelle replied, looking up from the chart she and Alex were filling out.

"Mr. Frost, Dr. Stevens is gonna come in and discharge you,"

"Whoa, you can't discharge me," Jerry suddenly sat up, his eyes alarmed. "I'm in pain,"

"You _were_ in pain, now you're not," Derek said. "Dr. Karev and Dr. Grey here are going to recommend some wonderful treatment programs for you. Go home. Get some help,"

"You can't just do that!" Jerry yelled as Derek walked out of the room.

"He just did, my friend," Annabelle said, before looking at Alex and raising her eyebrows in a 'see?' motion, making Alex smile the smallest of smiles as he looked at the patient. Maybe they weren't feeding a dog a full-meat stake, after all.

* * *

"You page me?" George asked Izzie as he walked up to her once he arrived in the lobby.

"I'm gonna be a while, do you think you could get home to sign for the beer?" the blonde replied, looking up briefly from her discharging papers.

"Why don't you have your boyfriend sign for it?" Alex suddenly spoke up, making the two other interns realize he was sitting in the office right in front of them, looking up at Izzie with a sarcastic smile through the window.

"You have a very annoying way of sneaking up on people," Izzie said as Alex rolled out of the office on his chair, looking up at her mockingly. "Maybe if you were a little less creepy..."

"I wouldn't come anyway. I hate big parties,"

"Are Meredith and Annabelle the only people in this hospital who don't know the size of this thing?" George asked, looking at Izzie pointedly and following her as she began to walk away.

"I'm telling them," the blonde sighed.

"You can't, Meredith's gone already," Cristina spoke up from where she was sitting by the computer a few feet away from them.

"What? Already?" Izzie stopped in her tracks, looking at Cristina with wide eyes.

"I think she had - um, excuse me - an errand to run," Cristina elaborated, pushing past George and beginning to walk away.

"Wait, what about Anna?!" Izzie called after her, but sighed as she only saw the Asian woman shrug, "You don't think they're really gonna mind about the party, right?" she then asked George a little nervously after clearing her throat.

"I want you to make it very clear to them that I had nothing to do with this party - nothing," George simply replied, looking at Izzie sternly as she raised her eyebrows.

* * *

"You can't discharge a man in pain!" Jerry cried as a nurse wheeled him out of his room, Alex, Izzie and Annabelle all walking alongside him.

"I'm sorry, Jerry," Alex replied, just barely stopping himself from rolling his eyes.

"Ow! You're hurting me," the patient cried out again as Alex pushed him back into his wheelchair after he tried to get up.

"You're the one who's making it more difficult, stop resisting," Annabelle said, raising her voice so that it could be heard over his cries.

"Just give me the hit of demerol, give me the hit of demerol," Jerry tried to plead with Annabelle and Alex, the latter walking backwards as they made their way down the hallway to ensure that Jerry wouldn't try to get out of the wheelchair again.

"The dilaudid hasn't worn off yet," Alex said loudly in annoyance as the man continued to plead with him.

"Mr. Frost, you have to-"

"Look, I'm not leaving! I'm not leaving! No!" Jerry cut Izzie off, shaking his head rapidly.

"Okay, that's it. I'm calling psych," Annabelle spoke up, turning around to head for the telephone.

"No, no, don't call psych!" Jerry yelled, pushing himself off the wheelchair before Alex, Izzie or the nurse could stop him and shoving past the blonde, "Don't call psych!" he called again, grabbing onto Annabelle shoulders before she could react and slamming her into the opposite wall, then quickly running down the hallway before the nurse or Alex could reach him.

"Anna!" Izzie quickly rushed to her friend's side as Alex and the nurse chased after Jerry, "Hey. You okay?" the blonde asked worriedly as Annabelle groaned quietly, pushing herself off the wall.

"Yeah," she replied, rubbing her shoulder with a grimace. _Oh, this is so gonna leave a bruise_ , "Let's go," she said, not giving Izzie a chance to respond before chasing after Alex, the nurse, and Jerry, rounding the corner just in time to see Jerry trip as he shoved past a nurse and fall to the floor, hard. Izzie gasped, stopping in her tracks as Alex and Annabelle both quickly rushed to their patient's side, the former pulling out his flashlight.

"Jerry," Annabelle gently shook the man's shoulder as she and Alex knelt beside him. "Jerry!"

"Concussion?" Izzie asked from over Annabelle's shoulder, having walked up to them seconds earlier, and Alex quickly held Jerry's eyelids open, shining his flashlight directly into them.

"He's blown his left pupil," he informed his fellow interns, "Page Shepherd. We gotta get him down to C.T.," he instructed, and Izzie immediately left, moving down the hallway quickly, "You okay?" Alex suddenly asked, and Annabelle looked up at him, taking a second to understand what he was talking about before the pain in her shoulder made itself apparent once again.

"I'm fine," she replied smoothly, though she didn't miss the concerned look that Alex shot her.

* * *

"That was one hard fall," Derek commented as he put up Jerry's C.T. scans so that the three interns could view them easily. "What do you see?"

"Subdural bleed," Annabelle answered after a few seconds.

"With midline shift," Alex added, nodding.

"We have to evacuate this now," Derek said after nodding, "Anywhere else you have to be, Dr. Stevens, or are you in?" he asked the blonde while grabbing the telephone to call the O.R.

"Brain surgery?" Izzie replied. "Are you kidding me?"

"That's what I thought,"

* * *

"See it?" Derek asked the three interns as the stood in the O.R., all looking at Jerry's now out-in-the-open brain.

"Yeah, it's hard to miss," Annabelle commented, staring at the bleed through the microscope lenses.

"Little more than he bargained for,"

"Maybe he's lucky," Alex spoke up, making Annabelle and Izzie both look at him curiously. "Maybe this is his way out of the hole,"

"The hole?" Annabelle repeated, though her voice held no mocking. Only pure curiosity.

"Interesting expression," Derek commented.

"My father was into smack pretty heavy. He was a musician," Alex continued after glancing at the other surgeons briefly, "It's tolerated in his line of work. Not good for the family at home," he said, and Annabelle couldn't help but look over at him. She didn't want to, mainly because she knew what it's like to receive pity stares and it honestly sucked, but she just couldn't help it. Though her eyes held no pity. Rather, intrigue. Maybe Alex Karev wasn't as much of a dick as he made himself out to be. Maybe he acted that way to make getting through life easier. Maybe there was more to him.

* * *

"Can you guys see him through recovery?" Derek asked as he and the three interns scrubbed their hands int he scrub room after the surgery.

"Yeah, I'll take it," Alex said as Derek dried his hands with a towel.

"I'll stay, too," Annabelle added, nodding at Derek.

"No, I can do it," Izzie spoke up.

"That's okay, Stevens," Alex said.

"No, he's my patient now, too," Izzie protested, and Annabelle finally sighed, turning off the tap and reaching for a towel.

"Izzie," she spoke up, making sure to look Izzie in the eye. "Go,"

"We got it. See your hockey player, I'm serious," Alex said, also turning off the tap and walking over to the cabinet to grab himself a towel.

"Yeah, okay," Izzie finally nodded. "I guess. Thanks, guys,"

"You should go, too. I got this," Alex said, turning his head to look at Annabelle.

"No, that's fine, I can stay," the brunette shook her head.

"I'm serious,"

"So am I!" she said loudly, unable to stop herself as a chuckle escaped her lips. "This thing at the house is just a small get-together, meet-your-boyfriend little thing. They'll be fine without me,"

"Wait, Anna!" Izzie suddenly spoke up, and Annabelle stopped by the door and turned around to face her, raising an eyebrow when she saw Alex shoot Izzie a look.

"Yeah?"

"Nothing," the blonde finally shook her head after a few seconds of silence. "Nothing, never mind,"

"O-kay," Annabelle looked at her weirdly, but nodded nonetheless before turning back around and opening the door. "I'll see you at home,"

"Yeah... See ya,"

* * *

"Damn it," Annabelle suddenly cursed as she fixed her navy shirt with 3/4 sleves and a v-neckline in the locker room, already in her jeans and ready to leave the hospital.

"What is it?" Alex asked, looking up at her from where he was sitting on the bench a few feet away from her, putting on his shoes.

"I didn't drive today. _Izzie_ did," she said, before groaning as she shoved her scrubs into her locker. "Great. I guess I'm gonna crash in an on-call room for the night,"

"I can drop you off," Alex suggested, and Annabelle turned around to look at him in surprise.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, it's on my way, anyway," he shrugged it off like it was no big deal, and Annabelle was quiet for a few seconds before finally nodding, offering him a small smile.

"Okay. Thanks,"

"No problem," he shrugged, quickly pulling on his jacket as Annabelle grabbed her purse, "Come on," they headed out of the hospital and into the parking lot, both quiet though strangely not uncomfortable. Once they reached Alex's car, Annabelle got into the passenger's seat and put on her seat belt before they were off. They both remained quiet throughout the ride, though, once again, it was a comfortable silence that neither really minded. That is, until they reached Annabelle's house.

"What the..." she trailed off, her eyes wide at the sound of music blasting loudly through the speakers and the sight of drunk people stumbling in and out of her house, "Izzie, I'm gonna kill you," she growled, suddenly realizing that the whole get-together meet-the-boyfriend little thing wasn't so little after all. Annabelle shook her head before quickly unbuckling her seat belt and jumping out of the car before it was fully stopped, making Alex slam on the brakes.

"Whoa, hold on a second!" he called after her, but it was done in vain as Annabelle was already shoving past multiple drunk people, heading towards her house. Alex cursed quietly before turning off the engine and jumping out of his car, following her into the house, "Annabelle!" he called, running to catch up with the brunette as she made her way into the house, continuously stumbling past all the drunk people - which, in total, there must have been at least 150 of them, if not more, "Hey!" Alex called again, finally catching up to her as she stopped in her tracks and stared at something ahead of her in disbelief. And once Alex saw it too, he understood why.

Right in front of them were Cristina and George, sitting on the floor, playing cards, both drunk off their asses, George almost naked minus the boxers.

"There you are!" Cristina cheered, somehow managing to stand up and walk over to the two without tripping over her own feet.

"What the actual hell is going on here?!" Annabelle asked loudly over the music.

"It wasn't my idea!" George quickly yelled, but Annabelle could only stare in disbelief. "She made me do it!"

"Where is Izzie?!" Annabelle asked again after shaking her head, her eyes on Cristina, who could only shrug before walking past her, probably to get herself more tequila as Annabelle eyed the countless empty bottles. However, she quickly turned around once she heard the Asian woman's yells, only to see her now on her coffee table, dancing with two guys Annabelle saw maybe once in the hospital.

"Screw it," she finally breathed out, shaking her head as she watched Cristina. She then turned to Alex. "Feel like getting drunk tonight?"

It happened pretty quickly. One glass turned into one bottle, which turned into three bottles and it took only an hour for the two to get quite drunk. Though Annabelle seemed to be more sober of the two, surprisingly.

"How are you not on your ass yet?" Alex asked finally, looking at her incredulously. They were both sitting in the kitchen, which they found was the least crowded place.

"I have a _very_ high tolerance," Annabelle said, dragging out a few vowels as Alex grinned at her, "You know what? I don't get it. I just don't get it. We're adults. We're doctors. We're freaking surgeons. And yet here we are, drunk off our asses, partying like high schoolers... and I'm still miserable," she shook her head, the look on her face reminding Alex of someone trying to make solve a great mystery. "How does that happen? Huh? I mean... I'm miserable at my own party!" she exclaimed, her voice a tad louder than she actually intended it to be, "I don't even know how to be fun anymore. And I used to be really fun. A lot fun," she pouted before taking another swig of tequila.

"You know... you can stop being miserable pretty easily," Alex said after a second, leaning closer so that their noses were almost touching. His face was decorated with a sexy grin, and it didn't take long for Annabelle to return it.

And that was all it took. In a matter of seconds, his lips were on hers, and she found herself sitting on the counter, with his hands roaming up and down her body. As he took his lips off hers to trail them down her neck, she fumbled with his shirt before pulling it off him, Alex helping her get her own shirt out of the way only a second later. And just like that, the party somehow seemed a lot more fun.

* * *

"When's your meeting with the chief?" George asked Meredith as he handed her a cup of coffee, sitting down on the couch as she sat up on the floor tiredly.

"In an hour," she replied, leaning her back against the couch.

"Holy mother of destruction," a voice suddenly breathed out from the doorway, and the two looked up, only to see Izzie looking around with wide eyes. And rightfully so. The entire house was a mess. Popcorn, chips, basically every food you could think of was lying on the floor in almost every room, empty cups, glasses and bottles _were_ lying around in every room...

"You missed doctor-palooza," Meredith commented dryly.

"Apparently, you didn't," Izzie said, taking off her shoes and walking over to sit on the couch beside George.

"I should probably never speak to you again,"

"I'm so sorry, Meredith," Izzie sighed, her eyes apologetic. "I had not idea it was gonna get so..."

"It's okay," Meredith said lightly. "Really, I don't care. What would I be doing, anyway?"

"Preparing for your career-altering meeting," George snorted, his eyes still closed as she leaned against the back of the couch. "Sorry,"

"That heart wall shouldn't have torn," Meredith said, her voice grim.

"Anything in the patient's history?" Izzie asked, leaning over to grab an open beet bottle and bringing it up to her lips.

"Husband said she was in the best shape of her life," Meredith replied. "She lost 100 pounds last year,"

"100 pounds in a year - how's her muscle mass?" Izzie asked after raising her brows in surprise, taking another swig of the beer.

"Do you even know whose that was?" George suddenly asked, looking at the beer bottle in Izzie's hand in disgust.

"I'm hoping it was yours,"

"No,"

Suddenly, all three looked up as they heard someone come down the stairs, and Izzie immediately stood up. placing the beer bottle down on the coffee table.

"Anna, I am so sor..." she trailed off, and her eyes widened as she saw the all-too-familiar figure making its way downstairs.

"Hey," Alex greeted nonchalantly, barely glancing at her, shrugging on his jacket as he reached the bottom of the stairs, before stopping and turning around to look at her, "Cool party," he complemented, before making his way out the door as Izzie only continued to stare with wide eyes before finally sobering up enough to make her way back into the living room.

"Was that-"

"Uh-huh," Izzie nodded, cutting George off, her eyes still wide.

"Hey," a familiar voice suddenly came from the bottom of the stairs, and they all turned, only to see Annabelle, still wearing her clothes from the day before as if nothing ever happened. Unfortunately for her, her hair told a different story. "What?"

* * *

"What do you think?" Izzie asked Annabelle, George and Cristina as they all waited in the corridor a few feet from the Chief's office.

"$50 says Meredith gets tossed out on her ass and Burke walks away clean," Cristina spoke up as she eyed the door to the Chief's office, making Annabelle shoot her a glare.

"Do you mind? This is my sister we're talking about,"

"Please be nice to her," George added.

"So..." Izzie started, looking at Annabelle with raised eyebrows.

"What?" the brunette raised her own eyebrows.

"You and Alex..."

"Yes...?"

"You..."

"Slept together?" Annabelle filled in, just barely stopping herself from laughing. "Yes,"

"Wait, you... you and Evil Spawn?" Cristina looked at her with wide eyes, laughter making its way out of her mouth very quickly.

"Oh, cut me some slack, I was drunk," Annabelle rolled her eyes as Cristina continued to laugh.

 _Responsibility - it really does suck._

"Meredith. You okay?" they suddenly heard Derek's voice and turned their heads, only to see Meredith coming out of the Chief's office.

"Yeah. One-month probation," the blonde replied, and Annabelle immediately sighed in relief.

"Good. That's good," Derek chuckled, quickly yet affectionately touching Meredith's arm before turning around to walk away as Meredith walked up to her fellow interns.

"Burke saved my ass in there,"

"Don't you all have something better to do?" Dr. Bailey suddenly asked from behind them, making Annabelle jump as she turned around. "Come on, people, move!"

 _Unfortunately, once you get past the age of braces and training bras, responsibility doesn't go away. It can't be avoided. Either someone makes us face it, or we suffer the consequences. And still, adulthood has its perks. I mean, the shoes, the sex, the no parents anywhere telling you what to do... That's pretty damn good._

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** Well, that was the end of Shake Your Groove Thing. I hope you all liked Alex/Annabelle in this story, even though Annabelle got a bit angry at Alex in the beginning. Just because she's seeing more good in Alex than most people do doesn't mean that Annabelle's going to go easy on him when he deserves a kick in the ass. Next chapter's where Bailey makes Derek and Meredith's lives hell because of their sort-of-relationship and If Tomorrow Never Comes. It'll be an awesome episode where Annabelle finally gets to be a little more involved in the Merder drama, as well as gets to connect more with Alex.

Anyway, I hope you all liked the chapter. I thought that the interns wouldn't really make much of a big deal about Annabelle sleeping with Alex (minus, of course, Cristina enjoying it immensely). I just think George and Izzie would both be a little shocked - one more than the other - and a little disgusted - one more than the other. And Meredith wouldn't really care seeing as one, she was hungover, and two, she knows her sister. I was really tempted to write what happened when Alex and Annabelle woke up, but I decided that that would be a little too touchy-feely for just a one-night stand and I didn't want that.

See you next time!


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